Abstract The control of tick-borne protozoan diseases (babesiosis and theileriosis) depends on judicious integration of management, vector control, chemotherapy and immunization. The relative importance of each method will depend on the animal species involved as well as epidemiological and financial considerations. Thus, the role of economists, modellers and sociologists will become increasingly important in the future in determining the best control strategies for specific situations. The possibilities of deriving synthetic vaccines by genetic engineering techniques are exciting, but it will be some time before such vaccines supplant the currently-available live vaccine.