Building blocks for a wild animal health business case

Investment in wild animal health has not kept pace with investment in health programs for agriculture or people. Previous arguments of the inherent value of wildlife or the possible public health or economic consequences of fish or terrestrial wildlife diseases have failed to motivate sufficient, sustained funding. Wildlife health programs are often funded on an issue-by-issue basis, most often in response to diseases that have already emerged, rather than being funded to protect and promote the health of wild animals on an ongoing basis. We propose that one explanation for this situation is the lack of business cases that explains the value of wild animal health programs to funders. This paper proposes a set of building blocks that inform the creation of wildlife health business cases. The building blocks are a series of questions derived from a literature review, the experience of directors of two large national wildlife health programs and lessons learned in developing a draft business case for one of those programs. The six building blocks are: (1) Know what you are trying to achieve; (2) Describe your capabilities; (3) Identify factors critical to your success; (4) Describe the value you can bring to supporters; (5) Identify who needs your services and why; and (6) Share the plan.