World Veterinary Day provides a great opportunity to celebrate the work of veterinarians and other veterinary service providers around the world. And GALVmed wants to take the opportunity to recognize the contributions of our many veterinary partners for their continued support to our mission of bringing animal health solutions closer to smallholder farmers in developing […]
Our professional lives are often so cramped with problems to solve, targets to reach and deadlines to meet that we may find it difficult to think. However, it is when we stop and make time to think that we increase the possibility to gain insights that will “move the needle”. At a recent “Private Sector […]
In July 2018, GALVmed’s partner Boehringer Ingelheim launched a new project known as The Last Mile Initiative. The project is designed to address weak distribution channels and help smallholder farmers in Africa increase their knowledge on disease prevention and treatment. While the Last Mile Initiative was initially launched in Kenya, there are plans to expand […]
In a new article posted on his Gates Notes blog, Bill Gates says rearing goats can greatly boost women’s empowerment, especially in rural areas where money earned from sale of goats stays in the women’s hands and gives them more control of their finances. This means that women not only improve their status within the […]
According to FAO, livestock related food items account for about 30% of agriculture related GDP in Africa. This is with the exclusion of other contributions such as manure, draught power and transportation. When we consider that 75% of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) human population is involved either directly or indirectly in farming activities (FAO 2013;2014), it […]
The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) defines biosecurity as a set of management and physical measures designed to reduce the risk of introduction, establishment and spread of animal diseases, infections or infestations to, from and within an animal population. The growing importance of poultry in developing countries and the emergence of new zoonotic pathogens, […]
Majority of the animal production in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa is scattered. They have traditionally been operated by millions of small-scale producers (SSPs). The number of animals kept by SSPs are few – ranging from one to hundreds. Many of these animals die due to preventable infectious diseases before attaining maturity and those entering […]
Q: To what extent is animal health the pre-eminent constraint to small-scale livestock producers?A: To a large extent To many of us, “to a large extent” may seem a satisfactory answer. But what does it mean? How do we respond to this kind of data and what are the implications for the work we do […]
On June 23rd 2020, the European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (EuFMD) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), in collaboration with the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), launched an online course: Applying Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in the Progressive Control of FMD and Similar Transboundary Animal Diseases. I had […]
GALVmed’s mission focuses on improving the availability and adoption of essential animal health products for Small-scale Livestock Producers (SLPs). In this mission, we focus on the significant constraints imposed by livestock diseases and the considerable barriers in the supply of animal health products (particularly vaccines requiring an effective cold chain) into remote, rural, ‘last mile’ […]
It is standard procedure to measure the progress and effects of a project within its lifetime, or immediately thereafter. However, GALVmed’s Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) function also considers the performance of projects a few years down the line and the legacy that these projects have left behind. Did they succeed or fail in the long […]
GALVmed is privileged to be working on a mission that has truly remarkable potential to improve the livelihoods of a vast number of people. Our ability to achieve exceptional results is down to the exceptional benefits afforded by livestock vaccines and other animal health products. These represent an investment to the small-scale livestock producer that […]
In Eastern Africa, the public sector currently leads efforts to control Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), a highly contagious viral livestock disease with severe economic repercussions. However, private sector innovation and resources could make a big difference in tackling this disease. The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the intergovernmental institution responsible for global animal […]
Much is being discussed about zoonotic diseases currently as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which scientists predict likely emerged from wholesale food market in Wuhan City in China. Globally, it is estimated that 75 per cent of emerging human diseases in the last three decades have originated from animals, increasing the urgency to […]