The roles of veterinarians in meeting the challenges of health and welfare of livestock and global food security

A classical definition of a veterinarian is that of a person that is qualified to practice veterinary medicine, and by this most people think of clinical practices related to the prevention, cure, or alleviation of pain and treatment of injuries in animals, especially domestic animals. But the contemporary roles of veterinarians go far beyond these more visible tasks. As the world becomes intricately interconnected and more complex, so are the various obligations and responsibilities that veterinary professionals must undertake. To give an example, veterinarians at FAO work to reduce hunger and poverty across the globe through the development of animal production and health strategies that improve efficiency in production parameters while upholding environmental and natural resource management principles. [...]