Tag: PPR

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

Posted on by team galvmed

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

Posted on by team galvmed

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”

Why combination vaccines are better for small-scale livestock producers

Posted on by team galvmed

Written by Stephen Wilson, Director, Research & Development (VITAL projects) and Kellen Asena, Senior Marketing Manager, GALVmed. Originally published by Farming First.

Livestock is a crucial source of income for small-scale livestock producers. Globally, it is estimated that around 78 per cent of the world’s poorest communities rely on agricultural work to support their livelihoods and households. However, livestock diseases represent $358.4 billion in lost production per year.

Access to veterinary care is a critical piece of the puzzle, with higher vaccination rates associated with higher productivity. However, expensive vaccines often do not reach those who rely on healthy animals the most for their livelihoods, income and food security: small-scale livestock producers.

Small-scale livestock producers often live in remote areas and face many constraints around access to veterinary care, including the lack of financial means to pay for the necessary medicines, and sometimes even lack of knowledge on some of the diseases that their livestock may suffer from. Often, suitable vaccines are distributed in disproportionate pack sizes or are simply unavailable. However, combination vaccines, also known as multi-valent vaccines can address these access challenges and more, offering the best value for resource-poor livestock keepers.

Alternatives for smallholder farmers

The prevalence of diseases such as Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP) and Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) in livestock is rife across the African continent, causing significant economic losses for farmers and harm to animal health and welfare. Yet, major gaps exist in the portfolio of products required by small-scale producers to effectively control pressing livestock diseases. Combination and concurrent vaccines, meaning those which target more than one disease in a single dose or administration, offer effective and affordable value to small-scale producers with an outstanding return on investment and a multitude of benefits.

For instance, combination vaccines are more cost-effective than single-use vaccinations, which tend to be more expensive. The Sheep Goat Pox/PPR combination vaccine, for example, is 40 per cent cheaper than the cost of the two vaccines delivered separately. 

Multi-valent vaccines also provide maximum coverage against multiple diseases, rather than simply one livestock disease. They require just a single dose to be administered and therefore are less burdensome on the farmer, the animal, and the veterinarians. There have also been improvements around pack sizes, with 10, 50 and 100 doses available.

Developing multi-valent vaccines

Together with partners, GALVmed is funding the development of several multi-valent vaccines against livestock diseases that are most endemic across Africa and South Asia and currently have the most negative impacts on food security for smallholder farmers. Contagious Caprine Pleuropneumonia (CCPP), for example, can result in economic losses of over $507 million per year in endemic areas, while PPR is highly contagious and affects almost 70 countries across the African continent. SGP affects goats and sheep and can lead to economic losses amounting to $48 million per year across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Other diseases that combination vaccines are targeting include Contagious Caprine Pleuropneumonia (CCPP), Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD), Newcastle Disease (ND), and Infectious Bursal Disease (Gumboro) (IBD).

For example, the CCPP/PPR/SGP combination vaccine for small ruminant diseases in affected regions ensures maximum disease coverage using a single vaccine and through distribution networks operating effective cold chains. This combination vaccine is significantly cheaper than monovalent vaccines. The addition of the RVF dosage to the CBPP+LSD/Rift Valley Fever vaccine – known as a concurrent vaccine – is of particular importance to smallholder farmers as it offers enhanced protection against RVF outbreaks when administered at the same time.

Other combination vaccines include the bi-valent PPR/SGP vaccine – of which GALVmed, together with a commercial partner, has sold over 27 million doses to date – as well as multi-valent vaccines against ND and Infectious bronchitis.

Looking ahead

Encouraging governments across the Global South to open up the market for private sector development could ensure small-scale farmers are able to purchase vaccines more easily and efficiently, which is particularly important in the case of a disease outbreak when a rapid response time could make or break disease control efforts.

It is estimated that 800 million people in Africa rely on healthy livestock for their livelihoods. One of the fastest-growing agricultural subsectors in developing countries, livestock accounts for around 30 per cent of agricultural GDP. However, smallholder farmers in low-income, rural areas often lack access to vaccinations and veterinary care resulting from logistical and supply chain difficulties and costs. Combination vaccines could be the answer, offering a viable and cost-effective alternative for small-scale livestock farmers all around the world.

GALVmed provides updates on small ruminants’ vaccine development

Posted on by team galvmed

Livestock, including small ruminants, are an important asset for millions of people in low and middle-income countries and are a source of protein, income and wealth. However, animal diseases account for great losses in the livestock sector and seriously hamper animal production and small-scale producers’ livelihoods.

Numerous limitations hinder small ruminant production in the Global South. According to a deep-dive exercise conducted by GALVmed in 2019, feed scarcity and infectious animal diseases are major constraints to livestock production. Additionally, the availability of vaccines for small ruminants is very limited in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

In a Stakeholder Seminar series led by FAO, held in January, GALVmed presented its work on small ruminant vaccines with a focus on Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR). GALVmed has considerable history working in the field of PPR and is currently working with commercial partners on different projects to develop and commercialise new mono and multivalent vaccines against different small ruminant diseases such as PPR, SGP, Contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP) and Brucellosis.

The presentation however noted that these products and solutions can only be sustainably provided and reach full potential if focus shifts from emergency interventions to comprehensive small ruminant health and productivity management. Stakeholders need to come together to develop 1) regional programs that foster small ruminants’ health, productivity and trade; 2) multidisciplinary public & private partnerships with shared mandate and accountability; and 3) a common strategy addressing animal health issues, resource and veterinary service limitations, infrastructure reliability, and other systemic weaknesses.

The full recording of this webinar on new vaccine & market development for small ruminants is available below:

GALVmed presenters: