At GALVmed, we know that small-scale livestock producers can, with the necessary support and access to animal health solutions, become engines of financial growth and social transformation in the Global South – boosting incomes, improving lives and strengthening national economies. However, we also know that public services are underfunded and overstretched, meaning governments are unable by themselves to provide the animal health products and veterinary services needed to unleash the development potential of livestock. As a result, livestock vaccination rates remain dangerously low, leaving entire herds and flocks – and livelihoods – vulnerable to repeated disease outbreaks.
This is where GALVmed steps in.
By collecting market data, de-risking commercial investments and working with stakeholders to develop harmonised regulations, GALVmed has supported the public and private sectors and promoted public–private cooperation since its establishment, and I’m pleased to say that we have continued to expand the role of private sector in livestock health in 2024.
Nowhere can this be seen more clearly than in our flagship programme, VITAL (Veterinary Innovations Transforming Animal Health and Livelihoods). Commencing in 2017, VITAL has supported the development and sale of quality, safe and effective vaccines for livestock. A major milestone was reached this year with market authorisations obtained for three combination vaccines. With several companies ready to sell these much-needed vaccines, GALVmed’s role in VITAL includes supporting the products’ registration and market entry in target countries, ensuring that vaccines reach the small-scale producers who need them most.
2024 has also been a successful year for many other GALVmed initiatives. In September, the AgResults Foot and Mouth Vaccine Challenge Project achieved the registration of the first ever quadrivalent vaccine specifically tailored to East Africa – an important victory in the fight against one of the most infectious livestock diseases in the world. PREVENT (Promoting and Enabling Vaccination Efficiently, Now and Tomorrow) has enjoyed its best year yet, with 8 new hatcheries onboarded and 61.8 million day-old chicks vaccinated – almost double last year’s record. And, together with our partners, we have embarked on an ambitious regulatory project: Better Regulation, a three-year initiative to improve the predictability, efficiency and transparency of regulatory processes for new veterinary products across sub-Saharan Africa.
It goes without saying that none of this year’s achievements could have happened without the support of our partners and funders, whose unfailing commitment we are deeply grateful for. Together we are creating prosperous, sustainable, private-sector-driven markets for quality animal health products across sub-Saharan Africa that benefit everyone along the livestock value chain. I look forward to continued cooperation in 2025 and beyond in pursuit of this essential goal.
Dr Carolin Schumacher,
Chief Executive of GALVmed
Photo credit: FAO/Luis Tato