Author: team galvmed

The race for livestock vaccination in rural Africa

Posted on by team galvmed

Livestock face a myriad of deadly diseases. Many feel there is need to accelerate the development and distribution of vaccines for chickens, cows, sheep and goats. But small homestead farmers in rural areas can struggle to access these life-saving medicines and vaccines. That’s why GALVmed aims to bring vaccines straight to their door.

“The happiness of a Maasai is cattle,” says Nailogu Naikuni, smiling as she pats one of her cows on the back, roughing its hair. She’s walking through the pasture, clad in her teal and red traditional shuka, her neck, ears and crown draped in twinkling beads. “I’ve named them, so when I go milk a cow, I say, ‘come Noonkeye,’ and ‘I love you so much’.”

Naikuni is a Maasai farmer in Eng’amata Esinoni, a remote area of Kajiado County, in Kenya. She and her husband own a small homestead, where they’ve raised their 10 children – five boys and five girls – and generations of cows and goats.

Their livelihood as a family, she explains, depends on the well-being of their livestock and cattle, which they rear for milk, slaughter for meat, and sell on the market to pay for other necessities, including their children’s schooling fees. “The cows are our bank,” says Naikuni.
“I have no other savings, the savings are the cattle.”

Naikuni trains her children on how to take care of the cattle when they’re off from school. “I tell them, ‘this is your world for your survival’,” she says.

But herds in rural homesteads throughout Africa, like Naikuni’s, can often be almost entirely wiped out by livestock diseases and fast-spreading diseases. Diseases like contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP), foot-and-mouth disease, lumpy skin disease and pestes des petits ruminants decimate herds over short periods of time. And while medication – and even preventative vaccines – for such diseases are constantly being developed, fine-tuned and deployed worldwide, such solutions are often too far removed from realities like Naikuni’s. They can be too inaccessible, and simply not made to cater to the needs of small-scale farmers who don’t run massive, industrialised farming operations, she says.

GALVmed’s work over the past decades has focused on changing that, attempting to bridge the gap between vaccine producers and the people who most need access to their products.

“There’s a lot of challenges for us Maasai at the moment, and many different diseases that make it hard for livestock keeping,” says Naikuni, who describes seeing her cattle and livestock die from sudden symptoms like diarrhoea, bloating and coughing, even overnight.

Worldwide, more than 20% of livestock production is lost to disease every year, costing producers a yearly $300bn (£220bn). Despite having been eradicated in the developed world, for instance, CBPP and contagious caprine pleuropneumonia are two of the most rampant ruminant diseases in Africa, killing thousands of cows and goats a year with a high fever and aggressive respiratory symptoms. Naikuni and her neighbours refer to it as ‘Olodua’, which can also decrease the milk productivity of livestock.

Foot-and-mouth disease is a similarly highly contagious viral disease that causes blisters and excessive salivation in hoofed animals. The disease significantly reduces milk production, and affects their ability to calve, which can have dramatic economic consequences. Lumpy skin disease kills cattle via pox-like symptoms, while the famed peste des petits ruminants (PPR), also known as the small ruminant plague, which impacts more than 300 million farming households each year and can infect up to 90% of a herd of goats if they’ve never been exposed to the disease before, and kill 70% of them.

“If my cow gets sick, I will be sorely disturbed, and I won’t leave it alone,” says Naikuni. Over the years, it’s gotten easier. Since the arrival of a new veterinarian in town and the development of some new vaccines and medications, farmers like Naikuni have seen an improvement. “There are diseases that are not there now because of these vaccines and medicines,” says Naikuni.

One of the region’s veterinarians, Melita Lein, was born and raised in Kajiado County in a farming community just like Naikuni’s. Growing up, though, he realised there were many more animals than veterinarians to look after them if they fell sick – and animals fell sick more and more often each year. The little veterinary help available was costly, sporadic, far away and didn’t take into account the cultural context of the Maasai or their language, leaving some local farmers feeling isolated. Studies from other parts of Africa suggest that up to 80% of small-scale livestock farmers lack adequate access to veterinary services or have never resorted to veterinarian services for their livestock.

Every day, on his small motorcycle, Lein travels from 10km to over 200km across rugged terrain to remote homesteads, sometimes even in heavy rain, visiting otherwise inaccessible farmers.

“Me sharing the culture with my own people, it has made it easier, explaining things to them,” says Lein. “The work is easier coming from someone who they know and feel is their own.”

He often responds to emergency calls at night and does rounds of routine vaccinations during the day – providing vaccination programs tailored specifically to the needs of the livestock in Kajiado County, as a result of a lot of back and forth between vaccine producers, local government, veterinarians and small-scale farmers.

“We are no longer working in silos, in terms of disease control,” says Lein. The work done “bridges the gap between the farmer and them being able to access vaccination.”

Connecting even the most isolated of farmers to the global vaccine production chain – and making the process simpler and locally sourced – has been at the forefront of GALVmed’s mission in Kenya and the bulk of sub-Saharan Africa.

“We are working with companies and multinationals that have a bit more skin in the game, who are a bit closer to where the problem is,” says Lois Muraguri, GALVmed’s CEO, for veterinarians like Lein to bring to farmers like Naikuni in underdeveloped markets.

So far, they’ve reached 8.6 million annual customers and averted 48.8 million livestock deaths by 2025. And it’s not just about awareness of the vaccine’s existence and the ability to access it, though, says Muraguri. It is about ensuring a vaccine is the right fit local conditions.

“Sometimes you’re doing process improvement, or it could be tweaking something so that it’s specific for the context,” says Muraguri. “Our goal is not only about getting more products into the market, but it’s also about how that market then becomes sustainable.”

For foot-and-mouth disease, for instance, Muraguri’s team supports the development of vaccines that match East African strains specifically, not just global ones. The team also works with manufacturers to make small-volume vaccine packaging for farmers with just a few animals to inoculate, and they explore whether their Newcastle disease vaccines can be given as eye drops, which is simpler for smallholders than injections, or whether dosages can be added to the water the animals drink.

Since it’s often difficult for farmers to understand which diseases strike their animals, Muraguri’s team is also working on combination vaccines that bundle multiple protections into one jab, such as shots that protect livestock against the triad of the PPR, sheep and goat pox, and pleuropneumonia. Three of their multivalent vaccines have just achieved market authorisation.

GALVmed’s approaches have been successful so far, especially in India, where they helped tackle Newcastle disease in backyard chicken flocks. In the area where they intervened, flock sizes increased by 123% within 16 months of the vaccines being implemented.

“That poultry work, there’s quite a good story of our success,” says Neil Gammon, the organisation’s director of funder relations and development. “Now it’s about moving to cattle, sheep and goats. That’s where you still have very low vaccine uptake rates. And so that’s where our focus is going to.”

This article was produced for GALVmed by BBC StoryWorks Commercial Productions. Original article available here.

Photo credit: BBC StoryWorks Commercial Productions.

Animals & Us: A new series from WOAH featuring GALVmed

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Livestock are at the heart of rural communities across Africa, providing food, income, and security for millions of families. Yet preventable diseases continue to threaten animal health, livelihoods, and food systems.

The series Animals & Us explores the strong connection between the health of animals and people. The different stories in the series explore the remarkable innovators working to strengthen and protect this valuable connection. In GALVmed’s film, we explore how innovation, collaboration, and vaccination of livestock help protect animals, strengthen communities, and advance One Health.

This video was produced for GALVmed by BBC StoryWorks Commercial Productions.

  • Watch the full series here: www.animalsandusseries.com
  • If based in the UK, watch here: https://lnkd.in/dcFccN7e

Photos credit: BBC StoryWorks Commercial Production

Nigeria Takes a Bold Step Toward Transforming Its Animal Health Sector

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 Livestock farmers in rural communities across Nigeria often face devastating animal disease outbreaks that can destroy their livelihoods within days.

Government leaders, veterinary professionals, development partners, academics, and private sector stakeholders came together from 27th to 30th April in Abuja to deliberate on solutions to the challenges facing the livestock health sector, and more importantly, agree on a shared path forward. Convened by GALVmed in partnership with Ikore, an international development organisation, offering innovative solutions to support sustainable social and enterprise development and the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development (FMLD), the three-day stakeholder engagement marked a significant moment in Nigeria’s veterinary profession. At the centre of the discussions was the validation of the National Roadmap for Veterinary Services in Nigeria (2027–2036), a ten-year strategy designed to modernise animal health systems, strengthen disease preparedness, and support a more resilient livestock sector nationwide.

The gathering was more than a ceremonial policy event. It was a practical working session focused on implementation, coordination, and identifying solutions to the realities facing veterinary services across Nigeria today.

Throughout the engagement, participants examined gaps in improving vaccination delivery, expanding animal identification and traceability systems, addressing emerging livestock disease threats, and advancing the One Health approach that connects animal, human, and environmental health.

There was also strong emphasis on partnerships. Speakers repeatedly stressed that improving veterinary services at national scale will require closer collaboration between government institutions, private sector actors, development organisations, and state-level implementers.

The meeting itself reflected that broad coalition. Participants included senior federal officials, Directors of Veterinary Services from all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, development partners, academics, vaccine commercial partners, and leaders from across the veterinary and livestock sectors. Also in attendance were the Honourable Minister of Livestock Development, Idi Mukhtar Maiha, the Chief Veterinary Officer of Nigeria (CVON) Dr Samuel Anzaku, and renowned virologist Professor Oyewale Tomori.

For many attendees, the significance of the moment was clear. In the words of Dr Samuel Anzaku, Chief Veterinary Officer of Nigeria, “This is the first time we are having this kind of gathering since the veterinary profession started in the early 60s. This meeting is more than important; it allows us to chart a way forward for the veterinary profession in Nigeria.”

Beyond animal health, the conversations repeatedly returned to the economic importance of the livestock sector itself. According to projections by the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development, Nigeria’s livestock industry is currently valued at approximately $32 billion, with ambitions to grow the sector significantly over the next decade.

That growth cannot happen without stronger vaccination systems and better last-mile delivery of veterinary services.

GALVmed’s Veterinary Innovations Transforming Animal Health and Livelihoods (VITAL2) project, implemented by Ikore in Nigeria, is working to address those gaps by improving awareness, strengthening vaccine service delivery, and expanding access to vaccines in underserved communities.

Dr Moses Arokoyo, GALVmed’s Nigeria Country Manager, puts it plainly: health is wealth. “GALVmed’s VITAL 2 Project focuses on three major Pillars: animal health advocacy, disease awareness creation, and improved veterinary service delivery even to the last mile. This supports the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development’s NL-GAS Strategy with the newly formed 10-year Road Map for Nigerian Veterinary Service, and we are poised to partner and help grow the livestock industry in Nigeria from $32 billion to the targeted $74 billion through ruminant vaccination.”

For Ikore, the project represents a defining moment. “This marks a significant milestone as we contribute to the transformation the Nigerian livestock industry is set to embark on. We are particularly excited to deliver key components of the VITAL 2 project, with a strong focus on the exemplar areas,” says Ogheneovo Ugbebor, Managing Partner at Ikore.

By the close of deliberations, stakeholders had adopted a series of resolutions focused on strengthening institutional capacity, improving disease surveillance systems, establishing sustainable funding mechanisms, coordinating national vaccination efforts, and expanding public-private partnerships across the livestock value chain. The roadmap also places strong emphasis on digital transformation and embedding One Health principles into long-term sector governance.

The validation of the roadmap represents both progress and responsibility. The real test now lies beyond conference halls and policy documents — in communities where farmers struggle to access timely animal health services, where disease outbreaks continue to threaten livelihoods, and where stronger veterinary systems could have a direct impact on food security, public health, and economic stability.

Blog written by Calista Iheoma Geoffery, Communications Associate at Ikore.

New Policy Brief advocates collaborative action to advance access to new veterinary trypanocides for Africa

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Healthy livestock systems are fundamental to resilient communities, sustainable livelihoods and food security across Africa, yet controllable animal diseases continue to pose serious burdens for small-scale producers.

One such disease is Animal African Trypanosomosis (AAT) which devastates livelihoods across more than 37 African countries, costing economies up to $4.5 billion per year. Despite the impact of the disease, there are currently no vaccines in commercial development, and the current treatments, which have been in use for more than 50 years, are increasingly challenged by treatment failures, drug resistance, and the circulation of falsified or substandard products.

“The success achieved against human African trypanosomiasis shows what is possible when global partners align around a shared goal, and this same unified momentum is now essential to protect the animals that underpin rural livelihoods.” – Alec Evans, African Animal Trypanocide Development Project Leader at GALVmed.

A new joint policy brief by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) and the African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) advocates exactly for that – a multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral collaboration to deliver a new generation of trypanocides for the African livestock sector.

For GALVmed, which has been conducting research and collaborating with partners to create a new solution to AAT,  this step reinforces the importance of advancing next-generation trypanocides alongside regulatory harmonisation efforts that ensure these innovations reach the farmers who need them most.

Bringing new tools to the market, although a welcome step, is not enough. Addressing this neglected disease will require coordinated investment in research and commercial development, as well as regulatory harmonisation to accelerate the availability of safe, effective new trypanocides. “I In a landscape marked by treatment failures, limited diagnostic capacity, drug resistance, and the circulation of poor-quality products, GALVmed aims to drive overall change. Its goal is to support the development of a new trypanocide while supporting the systems needed to deliver quality-assured treatments, ensuring they reliably reach livestock keepers, even in the most remote areas.”

This joint call to action is routed in the progressive control pathway for animal trypanosomosis, and in recommendations issued by FAO expert consultations and African Union scientific conferences.

DOWNLOAD THE POLICY BRIEF: https://doi.org/10.4060/cd9735en

GALVmed, University of Toronto and Biovet Enter New Agreement to Advance Next-Generation Haemorrhagic Septicaemia Vaccine for Africa and South Asia

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GALVmed has entered into a new agreement with the University of Toronto, and Engineered Antigens Inc, a spinoff company by University of Calgary and University of Toronto, as well as Biovet, to further develop a novel haemorrhagic septicaemia vaccine for use in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.  Under the new HS vaccine advancement effort Biovet will conduct safety and efficacy testing, including in the field, and lead the process to secure market authorisation.

The initial product development was supported by funds from the Livestock Vaccine Innovation Fund of the Canadian International Development Research Centre to a team led by Dr Anthony Schryvers of the University of Calgary. GALVmed will now support the development and commercialisation of the vaccine in collaboration with the University of Toronto and the selected industrialisation partner, Biovet Private Limited, a BSL-3+Ag biocontainment facility supporting animal health vaccine production and large-animal testing in Malur, Karnataka, India.

The candidate vaccine is a novel target identified on the surface of haemorrhagic septicaemia-associated strains of Pasteurella multocida. It has demonstrated robust protection in cattle against lethal challenge with the two serogroups of Pasteurella responsible for HS.

Pasteurella multocida is a bacterial pathogen capable of infecting a wide range of wild and domestic animals, with diverse symptoms. In cattle, infections are primarily associated with bovine respiratory disease (BRD) and haemorrhagic septicaemia. HS is characterized by seasonal outbreaks with a rapid onset and high mortality.  The disease has devastating economic and cultural impacts on livestock-keeping communities across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.  

While vaccines against both bovine-associated P. multocida diseases are currently available, they are primarily limited to aluminium-adjuvanted whole killed bacteria, known as bacterins, or live attenuated strains. These vaccines offer serogroup specific protection, so responses only against the same strain type as in the vaccine, and can have safety concerns with adverse reactions after administration.  In many low- and middle-income countries, HS bacterin vaccines are produced locally and tailored to circulating strains, creating challenges for standardisation of products and subsequent large-scale production, and also consistent quality control.

Dr Steve Wilson, Director of Research and Development at GALVmed said: ”Haemorrhagic septicaemia is a significant issue for cattle and buffalo in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, with current products often having constraints in terms of quality, safety and efficacy against circulating strains.  The candidate vaccine developed by the University of Toronto will permit a standardised production process, and have cross-protection efficacy against HS causing Pasteurella strains.  Biovet are an established manufacturer of HS vaccines and this new development will provide a next generation solution for their markets in Africa and Asia.”

Professor Trevor Moraes, of the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto said: “This subunit-based protein vaccine has shown tremendous promise in protecting cattle from this devastating disease, and we are incredibly excited to advance to the final stage of development toward large-scale production and distribution in the low and middle income regions that need it most.”

Dr Raches Ella, Director at Biovet said: “This collaboration represents an important step toward delivering next-generation protection against haemorrhagic septicaemia. By uniting academic research, development expertise and real-world field testing, we are working to bring innovative and accessible preventive solutions to livestock producers facing this persistent and economically devastating disease.” 

“Advancing the HS vaccine requires global vision and collective action. By joining forces with our international partners, we are committed to translate this vision into a reality.” Dr.  Jalachari Ella, Director at Biovet said.

By combining academic innovation, development expertise and established manufacturing capacity, the partnership aims to deliver a safe, effective and scalable vaccine solution to help protect livestock, strengthen farmer livelihoods and support sustainable livestock systems in regions where HS remains a major constraint to productivity.

Why gender-intentional programmes are key to livestock systems development

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Livestock are more than productive assets—they are a critical source of income, nutrition, resilience, and opportunity for millions of people across Africa. Yet the benefits of livestock production are not experienced equally.

Women are at the heart of livestock care and yet they continue to face significant and persistent barriers to accessing veterinary services, inputs, finance, information, and decision-making power. Overlooking these gendered dynamics is not only detrimental to achieving equality —it also undermines the effectiveness, reach, and sustainability of livestock development efforts.

Recognising this, applying a gender lens to livestock programmes is not an optional add-on, but a strategic necessity. In 2025, GALVmed launched VITAL 2, a five-year programme to improve ruminant vaccination rates in Kenya, Tanzania, and Nigeria. The programme works through private sector-driven approaches to strengthen markets for high-quality vaccines while complementing government vaccination efforts. Crucially, VITAL 2 is a gender-intentional investment, designed to ensure that gender-related barriers and norms are identified and addressed so that women are not excluded from the benefits of ruminant vaccination as markets and delivery systems expand.

The gender component is fully integrated into VITAL 2’s delivery model, with the aim of improving understanding of the barriers and norms affecting vaccine uptake and identifying how project components can adapt to better include and benefit women.

A Structured and Evidence-Based Approach

The VITAL 2 gender plan includes targeted activities in selected sites that explore gender-transformative approaches. A three-country gender landscaping exercise in Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania will provide the foundation, mapping the technical and socio-institutional barriers to livestock vaccination, alongside the norms shaping these systems. It will also identify the most meaningful intersecting factor within in each community- such as age, ethnicity, religion, membership within cooperatives and conservancies – that shape women’s experiences and inform where gender transformative activities (GTAs) can be most effectively implemented.

Building on this, the targeted GTAs will be run in selected exemplar sites, where community dialogue and norm-shifting activities can be tested in structured environments. The purpose is to generate a comparative understanding of what works, for whom, and under what conditions.

Alongside these GTAs, an action research and evaluation agenda will track shifts in decision-making, household dynamics, participation in vaccination, and women’s ability to access services. A suite of gender indicators will be measured through baseline and endline surveys, supported by qualitative research that captures stories of change. This mixed methodology will allow VITAL 2 to monitor not only whether women are more involved in vaccination but also how these shifts are experienced and sustained within households and communities.

The insights from this research will offer practical evidence on norms and barriers, and potential responses that can inform VITAL 2 delivery teams and partners, while also contributing to a clearer understanding of how gender dynamics affect uptake in low-coverage contexts, ensuring women are not overlooked in the expansion of ruminant vaccination.

Integrating a gender lens into livestock programme design is not just a matter of equity—it is a pathway to more effective, sustainable, and impactful interventions that achieve stronger outcomes.

Gender-intentional programmes like VITAL 2 help ensure that livestock systems deliver benefits for everyone, enhancing animal health, productivity, resilience, and livelihoods across communities. By doing so, we move closer to livestock development that is inclusive, transformative, and capable of creating lasting impact.

Showcasing Impact: GALVmed Key Achievements

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For small-scale livestock producers in the global south, a goat, cow, or flock of chickens are not just animals – they are the foundation of their livelihoods. Livestock provide food, income, and security, and losing them to preventable diseases can be devastating.

In a world where over a billion people depend on livestock, improving animal health is critical not only to protect individuals but also to ensure sustainable agricultural systems, food security and safety, and entire communities’ well-being and progression.

GALVmed continues to collaborate with partners and key public and private stakeholders to transform the lives of small-scale producers across Africa and South Asia through improved animal health. Our approach remains the same: enhancing the availability, accessibility, awareness and adoption of high-quality veterinary medicines to reduce productivity and animal losses from preventable diseases. And how does this translate into tangible actions?

  • Improving availability: By researching, improving and developing much needed animal health products and solutions suited to the needs of small-scale livestock producers.
  • Increasing accessibility:  By easing barriers in the regulatory and policy environment ensuring the needed products reach the markets and are accessible and affordable to small-scale livestock producers.
  • Increasing awareness and adoption: By using appropriate channels to reach the last mile providing information and veterinary medicines to small-scale livestock producers.  
  • Increasing understanding: By providing practical data and information from the small-scale livestock producer field to measure impact and facilitate data-driven decisions.

Over the years, GALVmed through its partners, has implemented impactful programmes across Africa and South Asia, leading to significant achievements:

  • Approximately 8.6 million cumulative annual customers over the period 2014 – 2025. (*)
  • 3.8 billion doses of livestock vaccines, therapeutics and other animal health products sold to small-scale producers across Africa and South Asia from 2014 to 2025.
  • Approximately US$157.9 million in poultry deaths averted, from 2014 to 2025.
  • 16 products taken to full development since 2010.
  • 24 products registered under the Mutual Recognition Procedure.
  • Over 100 publications disseminated.
  • US$583.2 million in total net economic benefits to SSPs from the sale of vaccines and animal health products. Of this, US$260.1 million represents additional net economic benefit generated through GALVmed’s efforts to expand market availability and catalyse new adoption.

GALVmed will continue to work closely with partners to make effective animal health products accessible across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, advancing our mission to safeguard livestock health to consequently improve human lives.

(*) This measure does not currently account for the same SSP customer buying products year after year, and therefore contains an element of double-counting for multi-year time series.

The EAC Mutual Recognition Procedure expands its scope 

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The East African Community Mutual Recognition Procedure (EAC MRP) is a cornerstone of regulatory harmonisation in African animal health. Established to streamline the registration of veterinary medicines across EAC Partner States, the MRP allows for simultaneous application of marketing authorisations in multiple countries, reducing registration times, increasing access to multiple markets, and therefore contributing to bringing quality animal health products to market quicker and easier. 

The MRP has now taken an important step forward. Its mandate, which included veterinary pharmaceuticals and vaccines, has expanded to include ectoparasiticides, aquatic animal medicines, and animal nutritional supplements—broadening its impact and strengthening its relevance across both livestock and aquaculture sectors. 

Over the years, the MRP has facilitated the registration of 24 high-quality veterinary products, reinforcing its value as a practical and trusted regulatory tool. Among these achievements is the registration of a quadrivalent Foot and mouth disease (FMD) vaccine that protects against the circulating East Africa FMD virus serotypes.  

The expansion of scope is accompanied by important technical updates. The pharmaceutical guideline has been reviewed to incorporate requirements for innovator products. In addition, the guideline for Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) inspection of veterinary medicine manufacturers has been endorsed and is already being used. Applicants are advised to refer to the new guidelines, which are available here.

By providing a predictable and coordinated pathway for product registration, the EAC MRP continues to accelerate the availability of safe and effective veterinary medicines—supporting livestock productivity, safeguarding food security, and protecting the livelihoods of small-scale livestock producers across East Africa. 

To truly beat sleeping sickness we need to treat animals too

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Progress in eliminating the parasite will depend on uniting key players in the fight against livestock disease

Written by Alec Evans, African Animal Trypanocide Development Project Leader, GALVmed. Originally published by the UK Telegraph.

It often starts with swollen lymph nodes and weight loss before robbing the sufferer of sleep, energy and mobility. Transmitted by tsetse flies, sleeping sickness is one of Africa’s most feared diseases in people, and its animal version – African animal trypanosomosis (AAT), widely known in Africa as nagana – is just as devastating.

Yet, despite a shared vector, the global response to controlling the human and animal forms has been worlds apart.

In recent years, 10 African countries, including Kenya, have successfully eliminated sleeping sickness, or human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), with Angola also on the verge of achieving the same milestone. Meanwhile, African animal trypanosomosis (AAT) continues to devastate livelihoods across more than 37 African countries, costing rural economies up to $4.5 billion per year.

If Africa can mobilise the investments needed to eliminate sleeping sickness in people, it can and must show the same commitment to protecting the animals that sustain its economy.

Across sub-Saharan Africa, the spread of tsetse flies covers up to 10 million km², exposing an estimated 50 million cattle to AAT infection. Once infected, animals suffer dramatic reductions in milk and meat yields, loss of body condition, and become too weak to plough fields or reach markets.

For small-scale producers, a sick animal can lead to cascading financial losses – less food on the table, reduced income, difficulties in paying school fees and higher veterinary costs. The disease also has a direct impact on human nutrition, particularly for families that rely on livestock protein and dairy for their essential dietary needs.

Despite the scale of this impact, AAT remains a neglected disease. Unlike HAT, which has benefitted from decades of global investments and control programmes including two new drugs developed in the past 10 years, AAT has seen almost no comparable progress.

There are currently no vaccines in commercial development. Therapeutics rely primarily on two molecules – diminazene and isometamidium – both developed more than 60 years ago, whilst alternatives such as homidium are still in circulation despite being known carcinogens. Poor regulation further exacerbates the problem with livestock keepers at the mercy of sub-standard, frequently counterfeit products.

This innovation gap is compounded by other challenges. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), more than 17 countries in Africa, from Rwanda to Nigeria, have reported treatment failure with existing drugs due to widespread drug resistance. At the same time, few diagnostic tools exist for use in the field, often resulting in farmers treating animals based on guesswork rather than confirmed infection, which further accelerates resistance.

GALVmed’s African Animal Trypanosomosis Programme, which began in 2011 and has been funded by the UK Government and the Gates Foundation, is one of the very few coordinated efforts addressing this innovation shortfall.

As with sleeping sickness in humans, progress in eliminating AAT will depend on uniting key players in the fight against livestock disease from across the public, private and third sectors. To address this, GALVmed has collaborated with more than 20 research partners, comprising a global mix of private pharmaceutical companies, universities, and public research institutes to develop improved solutions for reducing the impact of this major African cattle disease.

But developing new drugs is only a part of the solution. Improved regulatory systems, such as the East African Community’s Mutual Recognition Procedure, are also essential to ensure that quality-assured veterinary drugs are registered and reach markets more quickly and consistently.

Progress made through tsetse control programmes also demonstrates that coordinated, long-term strategies can significantly reduce AAT infections. For example, Botswana successfully eradicated tsetse flies by using repeated aerial spraying of insecticides and traps that attract and kill the flies. In Senegal, programmes releasing sterilised male flies to interrupt tsetse breeding cycles, alongside the use of traps, have decreased tsetse populations by up to 98 per cent.

These tsetse control programmes, and more, must be matched with investments to develop safer, more affordable, and more effective veterinary drugs, delivered with the same urgency that has been applied to human health. With this approach, African countries can finally move closer to eliminating AAT and other economically damaging diseases.

The disparity between the progress in eliminating the disease in humans and animals highlights an innovation and investment gap in animal health. With new, safer veterinary drugs in development, stronger regulatory reforms, and proven tsetse-control approaches already succeeding in some countries, governments and investors have a clear path forward.

By improving access to existing solutions and accelerating investments in the next generation of veterinary drugs, African countries can ensure that rural producers are no longer left alone to fight diseases that have held back agricultural development for far too long.

Africa has already shown that sleeping sickness in people can be eliminated. With the right commitment, the same success can be achieved for animals and the rural economies that depend on them.

Stopping the spread of Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) starts with vaccine access in Africa

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Written by Stephen Wilson, Director, Research & Development (VITAL projects) and Camilla Benfield, Product Development Lead, Research & Development, GALVmed. Originally published by Farming First.

Imagine that over the course of 10 days, 80 per cent of your livelihood is destroyed. This is a reality for millions of small-scale producers in Africa who depend on sheep and goats for income, nutrition and survival, but have to contend with Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), a highly contagious disease with a mortality rate of up to 90 per cent.

Despite being the target of a global eradication campaign, PPR continues to threaten sustainable development, food security and poverty reduction efforts with its rapid spread across borders. Recent outbreaks in Europe demonstrate that no country is free from the risk of PPR.

In our interconnected world, nowhere is safe until everywhere is safe. Eradicating PPR could deliver billions in economic gains, alongside improved nutrition, health and education outcomes. But achieving its global eradication hinges on one key factor: ensuring more vaccines reach the owners of small ruminant livestock who need them.

PPR threatens rural livelihoods, but solutions exist

PPR impacts more than 300 million farming households each year, particularly in low-income countries where small ruminants are the backbone of rural livelihoods. Women and young people, who often manage these animals, suffer the most when outbreaks occur. The loss of sheep and goats not only strips families of a vital food source but also affects household income, children’s education and community resilience.

The disease is endemic in large parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, but Southern Africa remains at a tipping point. Six countries in the region, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius and South Africa, and one zone of Namibia are still officially PPR-free, yet the disease is spreading southwards and now poses a real threat to uninfected areas.

Without urgent and coordinated action, the disease risks spreading further, potentially reversing decades of progress in poverty alleviation, starting with the regions where small ruminants play a key role in food systems.

What makes the increasing spread of PPR frustrating is that high-quality vaccines that could prevent the disease exist. These vaccines offer lifelong immunity against all PPR strains and are considered one of the most reliable tools available for eradication. Yet vaccination coverage remains dangerously low across much of Africa.

In Uganda, for example, at least half of the districts are currently at risk of PPR outbreaks, putting the country’s 18 million small ruminants, most of which remain unvaccinated, in danger. Low disease awareness, high vaccine costs, inadequate veterinary infrastructure and limited animal identification systems continue to hinder large-scale livestock vaccination. Overcoming these barriers requires not just better vaccine availability but also stronger delivery systems that can reach the most remote farmers.

Why accelerating access to vaccines is crucial

Multiple European countries are now contending with PPR, thought to have spread from Africa. This is a stark reminder that global health security starts with controlling diseases at their source.

Healthy animals in Africa safeguard livelihoods locally while also protecting food security and international trade. To keep small ruminants healthy in the region, vaccine access must improve rapidly, supported by sustained investment and coordinated action.

A key step every African country must take is ensuring that affordable and accessible vaccines reach small-scale producers. GALVmed’s VITAL programme is helping to bridge this gap by supporting the development and distribution of combination vaccines, such as those targeting PPR, contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP) and sheep and goat pox (SGP).

These farmer-friendly vaccines are designed to be more cost-effective, requiring a single administration to protect against multiple diseases. Morocco’s success in using them to control outbreaks of both PPR and sheep pox demonstrates how such innovations can make vaccination campaigns more efficient while reducing long-term costs.

Regulatory systems also need to move faster. Despite the availability of effective vaccines against PPR, delays in licensing and registration across African markets slow down access. GALVmed and its partners have secured several product approvals, but greater regulatory harmonisation is essential to ensure new vaccines can reach farmers without unnecessary delays.

Finally, expanding vaccination coverage requires bridging the “last mile” to reach remote farming communities. Public-private partnerships have proven highly effective here. Boehringer Ingelheim’s LastMile initiative, for example, has trained animal health technicians, increased veterinary medicine registrations by 86 per cent and reached tens of thousands of small-scale producers across six African countries.

In Mali, trials of LYOPOX-PPR , a combined vaccine against PPR and SGP have vaccinated over 95,000 small ruminants, empowering farmers to proactively manage livestock health rather than respond reactively after outbreaks. Now, a vaccine that protects small ruminants against PPR, SGP and CCPP in a single shot is available in the market in East Africa. By combining innovation, regulatory reform and effective delivery systems, Africa can accelerate vaccine access and build stronger, more resilient animal health systems capable of tackling PPR at its roots.

Investing today protects everyone tomorrow

History shows that stopping devastating livestock diseases is possible. Rinderpest, a similarly contagious cattle disease, was declared eradicated in 2011 after a coordinated global campaign aimed at stopping its spread.

PPR could be next. We have the tools we need to consign it to history. GALVmed’s development of new combination vaccines and successful country-led vaccination campaigns, from Morocco to Mali, show that investment and political will exist to achieve PPR eradication.

Now, investment should be scaled to take these solutions from pilot to widespread coverage, which would be both an act of solidarity and a shield for the rest of the world. If we act decisively, we can protect livelihoods in Africa, prevent the disease from spreading further in Africa and across Europe, and unlock lasting economic and social benefits for millions of families.