Developing a Public Private Partnership Framework for FMD in Eastern Africa
Although Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) have been implemented in Eastern Africa, they have largely been for infrastructural development in the road, water, and energy sectors. Applying PPP approaches in the veterinary sector is still an emerging concept. But now, thanks to the AgResults Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) Vaccine Challenge Project, there is a new standardised PPP Framework that highlights the landscape, challenges, and opportunities of PPPs in the FMD vaccine value chain.
The FMD Vaccine Challenge Project is an eight-year, US$17.68 million Pay-for-Results prize competition that encourages the development and uptake of high-quality FMD vaccines tailored to meet the needs of Eastern Africa in six target countries: Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. One of the project’s goals is to develop a private sector model for buying and distributing FMD vaccines to complement public sector efforts in the region. PPP Frameworks can be crucial tools for communicating and raising awareness among key stakeholders. The team knew that creating such a framework for the FMD vaccine value chain could attract private sector investments into the veterinary domain to effectively and efficiently control FMD in the region.
To develop the PPP Framework, the FMD Vaccine Challenge Project team customized aspects of the OIE PPP Handbook into a practical framework, aimed at sparking commitments between partners to strengthen the FMD vaccine value chain in Eastern Africa. Although the OIE PPP Handbook is the single most comprehensive resource on PPP development in the veterinary sector, it only offers general guidelines.
The development process involved seeking views and inputs from the groups in Eastern Africa that would use the tool: veterinarians, para-veterinarians, and representatives from vaccine manufacturers, importers, distributors, livestock enterprises, and farmer organizations. From October 2020 to August 2021, the team engaged these key public and private sector stakeholders to collate feedback on their perspectives and interests in PPPs.
Although COVID-19 restrictions forced these meetings to be virtual, the discussions were dynamic, and participants provided enthusiastic comments that are summarized and validated in the PPP Framework. To create a stronger enabling environment, participants overwhelmingly identified the need to establish PPPs as well as link existing PPP units with their respective Departments of Veterinary Services. Responding to this feedback, the framework points out key challenges to the establishment of PPPs: lack of awareness of their benefits, trust issues between the public and private sector, and lack of financing. In addition, it identifies and prioritises opportunities for PPPs in vaccine production, purchasing, distribution, delivery, vaccinations, and post-vaccination monitoring for each of the six target countries.
Now that the PPP Framework is finalized, the FMD Vaccine Challenge Project team is focused on promoting its use in manufacturing, purchasing, distribution, and vaccination campaigns. This involves (1) identifying partnerships to promote the PPP Framework in target countries and (2) facilitating PPP MOUs, contracts, and/or informal partnership agreements in those countries.
Making the framework relevant and accessible will hopefully catalyze future PPP arrangements in the FMD vaccine value chain and trigger PPPs in the general veterinary domain.
The full PPP framework is available here. For more information on the AgResults FMD Vaccine Challenge Project, visit the GALVmed and AgResults websites.
Written by Badi Maulidi