Tag: livestock

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.

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.

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.

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.

The cost of livestock diseases and how vaccination makes a difference

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Millions of people in Africa depend on livestock — including cows, sheep, goats, and chickens — for food security and household income. Therefore, when these animals fall ill, livelihoods are directly threatened.

Each year, 20% of livestock production is lost to disease. Fortunately, the solution is within reach: improving the availability and accessibility of high-quality vaccines and medicines to safeguard animal health and, in turn, protect entire communities.

Vaccination is a vital tool in controlling disease outbreaks and preventing devastating losses. Diseases such as Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), Rift Valley Fever (RVF), or Contagious Caprine Pleuropneumonia (CCPP) not only threaten animal health but also endanger nutrition, food security, and household income.

For example, PPR causes economic losses estimated USD 1.2 to 1.7 billion annually, with one-third of the impact in Africa and a quarter in South Asia. CCPP alone has a yearly economic impact of around USD 507 million. Imagine a single vaccine capable of tackling these devastating diseases simultaneously.

Multivalent vaccines — which protect against multiple diseases in a single dose — offer a strong return on investment. They are a cost-effective solution for small-scale producers, reducing the need for multiple interventions and saving time and resources while offering broader protection.

Together with partners, GALVmed has supported the development of multivalent vaccines targeting livestock diseases that most severely impact food security and livelihoods across Africa.

After years of research and development, three of GALVmed’s commercial partners — JOVAC, Hester Biosciences, and M.C.I. Santé Animale — have achieved market authorisation for three multivalent vaccines:

  1. CBPP, Lumpy Skin Disease, and Rift Valley Fever
  2. Newcastle Disease and Infectious Bursal Disease
  3. CCPP, Sheep and Goat Pox, and PPR

With a single shot or administration, farmers can now affordably and effectively protect their herds against multiple diseases, making a meaningful contribution to household nutrition, income, and long-term resilience. This is a powerful return on investment that highlights the inherent value of vaccination.

GALVmed remains committed to supporting the development and commercialisation of livestock vaccines, ensuring that small-scale producers across Africa have access to the tools they need to protect their animals.

By safeguarding livestock health, we help unlock economic stability, opportunity, and sustainable growth. Because when livestock are healthy, farmers thrive and entire communities move forward.

Photo credit: FAO/Luis Tato

Written by Patricia Valdeón Noya as part of the campaign “The Impact of Livestock Diseases”

How to bridge the divide across Africa’s fragmented veterinary medicine sector

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This blog was written by GALVmed CEO, Carolin Schumacher and published by CNBC-Africa.

From backyard chicken raising to the grazing cattle of nomadic pastoralists, across much of rural Africa, animal diseases travel faster and wider than veterinary medicine.

An estimated 800 million people keep chickens, goats and cattle across the continent as valuable sources of food, income, fuel and fibre. Yet across Africa, the most prominent livestock diseases cost an estimated $9 billion every year – roughly 6% of the total value of the continent’s livestock sector.

Protecting and treating animals across such a vast and disparate population and geographic expanse is complicated and costly. Getting vaccines and medicine to livestock in remote areas of Africa is often limited by a lack of knowledge, manpower, funding and reliable refrigerated transport. Even when resources exist, they are typically spread too thin to systematically protect animal health and, by extension, the incomes of livestock keepers.

With a rapidly growing population and demand for animal-derived protein, enabling the veterinary sector to address the diverse needs and challenges of small-scale producers is not only possible, but also critical to Africa’s sustainable development.

Entrusted with the safeguarding of national herds, government veterinary services have historically focused on the most detrimental diseases affecting large-scale livestock operations, leaving many small-scale farmers behind.

Efforts in the past have successfully dealt with damaging infectious livestock diseases, including eradicating the deadly cattle disease rinderpest in 2011 through an integrated global campaign. Yet existing government-led efforts to manage other contagious livestock diseases are now lagging.

Facing rising economic pressures and a significantly broadened mandate, many African governments can no longer achieve sufficient vaccination coverage and deliver “last mile” services that saw volunteers across the continent contribute to rinderpest’s eradication even in the most remote communities.

Comprehensive livestock health management today requires governments and other livestock health organisations to think holistically and consider the infectious diseases limiting small-scale livestock producers’ potential. This includes foot and mouth disease, lumpy skin disease and contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) in cattle, as well as peste des petits ruminants (PPR), sheep and goat pox and contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP) in sheep and goats.

Meanwhile, the global veterinary medicine industry has traditionally focused on addressing livestock health issues of the Global North, where the profitable markets justify the high cost of investments in research and development of new products.

Small-scale producers of large and small ruminants – cattle, sheep, and other grazing animals – in the Global South have not benefitted from such investment. A commercially viable market for ruminant vaccination does not currently exist. Where it does, it can be regularly undermined by free mass vaccination by governments, non-governmental organisations and development agencies. Simply put, there are not enough private veterinary vaccination efforts supporting small-scale livestock producers.

In recent years, the Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines (GALVmed) and several private animal health companies have succeeded in developing and bringing to market a more complete portfolio of affordable animal vaccines and medicines for small-scale livestock producers in the Global South. Further, combined efforts in the poultry sector have demonstrated that governments and businesses sharing responsibility can foster a functioning veterinary service sector and vibrant, locally adapted veterinary medicine infrastructure and industry that caters to the specific needs of small-scale producers.

In practice, this means creating demand through increased awareness about livestock diseases while providing uninterrupted access to affordable veterinary products at the farm level. Adequately addressing the needs of the continent’s tens of millions of small-scale producers requires opening the ruminant vaccines market for private sector development, particularly for vaccine suppliers, local supply chain actors and private veterinary service providers.

Improving product registration and distribution will also help to equip farmers across Africa with the tools needed to preserve their animals’ health and support food security and economic growth on the continent, including their own.

Together with our partners, GALVmed has delivered more than 1.2 billion vaccines and other animal health products to farmers across Africa and South Asia, preventing the deaths of more than 23 million livestock – and the associated impacts this has on farmers’ incomes and food security.

Currently, GALVmed’s partners are developing a suite of combination vaccinations that address multiple infectious livestock diseases with a single intervention. These new vaccines promise to facilitate and improve vaccination access for farmers. Preventing multiple diseases at a lower cost will protect their livestock and livelihoods more completely and for the long term.

The vision of a food-secure, resilient African continent is well worth the efforts of removing the barriers to the functioning of the African small-scale livestock-producing sector. When governments, policymakers, veterinarians and veterinary medicine developers put the needs of small-scale producers first, they can help fill the gaps of the fragmented livestock health sector. Today, most tools are available but stakeholders will have to work together to deliver them to the farmers who need them most, for the benefit of Africa’s small-scale livestock-producing sector and society at large.

Photo credit: GALVmed/Buta Photography. A woman selling veterinary medicines in Ghana, 2022.

How Clinical Diagnostics Could Help the Global Fight Against Antimicrobial Resistance

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This blog was written by Thembinkosi Ramuthivheli (GALVmed), Marie-Elodie Le Guen (Ceva), and Dr. Pierre-Marie Borne (Ceva). Originally published by Farming First.

The misuse of antibiotics in both human and animal health has created an urgent health emergency globally. The resistance of microbes to antibiotics that are constantly used to combat them makes infections harder to treat, creating an antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis directly responsible for up to 1.27 million global human deaths as of 2019.

In developing countries, the challenges created by AMR are even more pronounced. Many small-scale producers, desperate to treat their infected livestock, turn to and misuse the most readily available antibiotics, further exacerbating the resistance to antibiotics while increasing losses due to death. As a result of the increasing threat of this phenomenon, AMR has become one of the priorities of the quadripartite agreement and the 2024 UN High-Level Meeting aimed at ramping up global action.

Essential diagnostic tools have also been initiated in several cities to aid in selecting the right antibiotics for specific livestock infections. Diagnostics have the potential to aid veterinarians in assisting farmers to identify specific disease-causing bacteria, allowing for the rationalised use of antibiotics. However, these tools are not easily accessible to small-scale producers in rural areas, setting the world several steps backwards in efforts to effectively combat the growing threat of AMR​.

Combating antimicrobial resistance with the OneLab Initiative

Small-scale producers generate about one-third of the world’s food supply and bear a significant brunt of the risks of AMR. To address the access gap between them and essential diagnostic tools to tackle microbial infections, Ceva Laprovet’s OneLab Initiative, in partnership with GALVmed, is supporting with a solution that brings clinical diagnostic services closer to small and medium-sized commercial farms. Traditionally, small-scale producers in poultry areas have faced difficulties accessing diagnostic tools, as laboratories that have them are often located far away and primarily in big cities. The long distances, challenges of transportation and delays in results have prevented farmers from getting the timely help they need when their poultry or livestock fall ill​.

OneLab technicians performing tests in one of the diagnostic centers, Senegal, 2023. . Credit: GALVmed/Mediaprod

The OneLab Initiative seeks to bridge this gap by setting up small laboratory units with diagnostic tools at veterinary clinics in poultry areas. Accessing diagnostics in these clinics allows for quick detection of bacterial infections which helps veterinarians recommend the most appropriate treatment for infected flocks, ensuring farmers use the right antibiotic while reducing the risk of antimicrobial resistance in their livestock.

The first tool introduced under the initiative is the orientation antibiogram, a practical diagnostic test that provides results in less than 24 hours. This enables veterinarians to determine not only if antibiotics should be used, but also which specific antibiotic will be most effective. This rapid feedback is critical in reducing the time farmers would otherwise spend on trial-and-error treatments, minimising losses due to disease​ and also ensuring overall reduction of the use of antibiotics.

Getting results in Senegal

In Senegal, the OneLab initiative has successfully calculated the level of resistance to antibiotics from different bacteria in the poultry sector. In 2023, the initiative was responsible for conducting up to 530 tests representing a total flock of 6.5 million birds across commercial poultry farms​. The data collected from these tests has provided valuable insights into the general level of resistance to antibiotics in the region as well as clinical information and evidence to accurately track their occurrence.

For instance, more than half of the bacteria tested were found to be resistant to most of the antibiotics commonly used by farmers in the region​. Without the diagnostics, veterinarians were blind to the sensitivity of different bacteria to specific antibiotics, often leading to the prescription of antibiotics that do not work. Farmers were also unaware of drug-resistant infections and effective measures to combat them before they led to unnecessary deaths among their flocks.

Poultry farmer feeding his flock in Senegal, 2023. Credit: GALVmed/Mediaprod

With diagnostic tools at their disposal, farmers who previously had to rely on a trial-and-error approach could now make informed decisions with the guidance of local veterinarians to reduce the losses of their livestock. This also helps them save significant sums of money by avoiding the purchase of ineffective antibiotics.

Moreover, the OneLab Initiative has sparked broader discussions about AMR within the veterinary community in Senegal. Annual meetings with veterinary authorities have raised awareness of drug-resistant microbes and the importance of diagnostics in combating their threat to animal lives. This growing awareness is essential to changing the mindset of both veterinarians and farmers when it comes to the advantages of the rational use of antibiotics​.

Clinical diagnostics as a path forward

Introducing diagnostics to veterinary clinics in poultry areas ultimately changes the paradigm of livestock management for both veterinarians and Small-scale producers. Livestock farmers in rural areas could have access to better antibiotic treatment options whenever a microbial infection is detected. This reduces the need for cycling through different antibiotics, as diagnostics offer a precise understanding of the infection.

Reducing poultry producers’ reliance on antibiotics helps to curb the further spread of drug-resistant microbes​. This change in approach, supported by diagnostics, also provides veterinarians with the ability to offer more accurate diagnostic services, improving the overall treatment of livestock. Farmers, in turn, are encouraged to adopt healthier practices that improve the health of their livestock while reducing the risk of antimicrobial resistance in them – a perfect win-win situation​.

The OneLab Initiative has demonstrated that more precise diagnostics can play a vital role in helping farmers rationalise their use of antibiotics to reduce the risks of antimicrobial resistance in their livestock. In Senegal, the number of diagnostics to get accurate solutions to bacterial infections in poultry has steadily increased since the initiative was launched. With this success, it is evident that introducing diagnostics in local veterinary clinics offers a scalable model that can be implemented in other regions suffering from similar challenges​. Initiatives bridging farmers’ access to diagnostics tools ultimately need worldwide support and visibility in order to increase their adoption as a viable solution to combat the growing antimicrobial resistance threat.

Header photo credit: ©2023 GALVmed/Mediaprod

How Digital Innovation Will Unlock the Potential of Africa’s Livestock Producers

Posted on by team galvmed

Written by Enrique Hernández Pando, Head of Commercial Development & Impact, and Tom Osebe, Senior Manager, Commercial Development & Impact, Africa. Originally published by Farming First.

New animal health platforms are needed to unleash the commercial and development potential of small-scale livestock producers in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Home to tens of millions of small-scale livestock producers and a quarter of the world’s livestock, Sub-Saharan Africa has the potential to become the commercial powerhouse of the animal health industry. For decades, however, a variety of investment barriers have prevented animal health companies from tapping into this potential. A lack of market data and intelligence makes investment a challenging proposition and the widely dispersed and often remote farms tended by small-scale producers are a challenge to veterinary service networks.

This is not just bad news for business. Limited investment has denied the continent’s small-scale producers the same access to quality animal health products and expertise as their counterparts in the Global North. Reliant on limited and often unregulated medicines and unable to meet regularly with vets, millions of small-scale producers are forced to raise their animals sub-optimally, impacting profits. Livestock’s proven ability to fuel sustainable development through increased incomes, improved nutrition and economic prosperity is being curtailed.

Now for the good news. With digital innovations that are already being developed, we can unleash the enormous potential of Sub-Saharan Africa’s small-scale livestock producers and turbo-charge the animal health industry.

Market intelligence platform

Establishing prosperous and sustainable animal health markets is a long-term goal of the Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines (GALVmed), an organisation dedicated to making livestock vaccines, medicines and diagnostics accessible and affordable in Africa and South Asia. For the past few years, GALVmed has been working with a wide range of partners to create a suite of digital platforms designed to finally bridge the gaps between the animal health industry and the continent’s small-scale producers.

The first of these – which is being developed in partnership with AgNexus Africa, Kruger Consulting, Pizzly Consult and Folio3 – is a Market Intelligence Platform. By aggregating reliable and up-to-date sales data from various sources in the animal health industry, the Market Intelligence Platform will give companies an unprecedented understanding of the size and nature of the animal health market across sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2024, a minimum viable product will be developed to allow users to size and estimate the Kenyan market. This will help companies quantify demand, secure investments and reach underserved small-scale livestock producers. The platform will be expanded to include Tanzania, Ethiopia and Nigeria. 

To ensure the Market Intelligence Platform continues to provide accurate information for years to come, GALVmed is also helping to digitise the agrodealer industry. Since December 2023, AgNexus Africa and GALVmed have been equipping hundreds of agrodealers in Kenya and Tanzania with smart devices that log their sales. Not only is this improving the efficiency of the industry, but the logged sales data will be fed into the Market Intelligence Platform, providing businesses with a steady stream of real-time market data. 

Telehealth and e-commerce platform

The second major innovation is the Telehealth and E-commerce Platform, which is designed to tackle the limited reach of animal health professionals in sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, vets and paravets can only visit about five farms a day as they navigate remote villages, poor infrastructure and seasonal access roads. The Telehealth and E-commerce Platform is set to dramatically increase the number of cases these professionals can take on by enabling virtual consultations and clinical sign recognition.

In partnership with VetNOW, the National Animal Disease Information Service and Africa Veterinary Technicians Association, a team of 10 vets has been enlisted to populate the platform with diagnostic information for an initial 55 priority diseases of cattle, sheep and goats. There are also plans for the platform to enable vets and paravets to give prescriptions, order products, submit cases for laboratory testing and even scan product barcodes to see if a particular animal health product is licensed to be traded. The Telehealth and E-commerce Platform will in future integrate with the Market Intelligence Platform, creating comprehensive market datasets for the poorly understood last mile of animal health value chains.   

In 2024, a minimum viable product offering telemedicine and clinical sign recognition – but without the e-commerce component – will be developed, covering Kenya’s Kiambu and Nakuru counties. This project is being implemented within Kenya’s veterinary medicine practice regulations.

Unleashing the potential of livestock producers

These platforms will be available via AgNexus Africa and VetNOW. The Market Intelligence Platform data will use a fee-based subscription model to ensure its long-term sustainability. The Telehealth and E-commerce Platform, meanwhile, will work on a demand aggregation model – similar to how taxi and food delivery apps work – with VetNOW in charge of the day-to-day operations. 

By ending the disconnect between the animal health sector and small-scale livestock producers, these platforms will help unleash the commercial and development potential of sub-Saharan Africa’s livestock.

Cover image credit: @Shutterstock/Wazzkii

Invest in Women to Accelerate Progress

Posted on by team galvmed

International Women’s Day, celebrated annually on March 8, is a day to reflect on the gender disparities that hinder women’s opportunities worldwide, while advocating for policies and strategies that pave the path to gender equality.

The theme for International Women’s Day 2024, as set by  UN Women, is Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress. With this campaign, UN Women shed light on an alarming reality: An additional $360 billion per year is needed to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment across key global goals, including to end poverty and hunger.

In the livestock context, where GALVmed operates, we must advocate for animal health and livestock strategies that are designed with attention to and addressing gender issues and inequities, to ensure women have equal access to resources and business opportunities as men. By investing in women, we not only advance global goals such as food security and poverty eradication, but also build a more inclusive and sustainable world.

How is GALVmed contributing to women’s empowerment?

Why is it important to invest in women in the livestock sector?

Women make up 43 percent of the global agricultural labour force, and therefore their work and contributions are of tremendous importance. Despite their potential to drive change within the agriculture and livestock sector towards more resilient, prosperous, and sustainable systems, rural women still face numerous challenges that leave them, and their communities, behind. We must allocate resources toward initiatives that amplify women’s contributions and opportunities, catalysing progress for women and men alike. This International Women’s Day, as well as every day of the year, let’s advocate for increased investment in women as a crucial step to help closing the gender gap and forging a future where everyone can thrive.

Banner Photo: Pascal Maitre & Chris de Bode/Panos Pictures

Written by Patricia Valdeón Noya as part of the International Women’s Day 2024 campaign on #InvestInWomen