Risk attitude and decision making in contagious disease control

Abstract

Accurate control of contagious animal diseases is of major concern for most countries. Basic and advanced decision rules are presented and applied, to show the impact of various risk attitudes of decision makers in determining what control strategy to choose, taking Foot-and-Mouth disease control in the Netherlands as an example. The choice appears to vary considerably among the decision rules (i.e. risk attitudes). Eventually, it is up to the decision maker to decide what rule is the most appropriate. Insight into the potential consequences of the various alternatives may contribute towards a more thoughtful approach in this respect.