Tag: vaccines

Vaccine Equality Is as Vital for Livestock as for People

Posted on by team galvmed

For 33-year-old mother-of-seven and poultry farmer Helena Kindole in Chanya village in Tanzania, one of the main barriers to growing her chicken business is a lack of access to health services. But not for herself or her family – for her animals.

With smallholder poultry farming often a lifeline for millions of low-income and rural families – accounting for 80% of poultry production in the region – access to medicines and vaccines is just as important for livestock as it is for people. And yet, logistical, infrastructural, and supply challenges are hindering access to veterinary services across the African continent and therefore, holding back smallholder productivity.

At the same time, a rapidly industrialising poultry sector in many developed countries, and an increase in grain prices globally, coupled with cheap imports from more developed markets and low access to animal health care is driving inequality between small- and large-scale producers, threatening to squeeze out smallholder poultry farmers.

Thankfully, this is starting to change. Animal health initiatives are helping local hatcheries to vaccinate chicks against common and damaging diseases before selling them to small-scale farmers, who rear the chicks until they are six months old, eventually selling them to neighbours, restaurants, and other businesses nearby.

For women like Helena, who make up nearly half of the global agricultural workforce in developing countries and in sub-Saharan Africa, the poultry sector offers a crucial source of income and healthy animals are essential for decent livelihoods.

Equipping farmers with the right tools can help to set them up for success to compete alongside more industrialised production systems.

Introducing vaccinations at local hatcheries can strengthen small-scale producers’ sustainability and commercial clout. Supporting these hatcheries with the necessary vaccination equipment and expertise means they can provide customers with large numbers of chicks that are vaccinated against common poultry diseases, such as Newcastle disease and Infectious bronchitis, the former of which contributes to 60% of poultry mortalities in many African countries. This reduces the risk of bird loss, contributing to improved income and more successful businesses overall.

PREVENT project in Tanzania/Iringa, 2021, Helena Kindole. Credit: Colin Dames/CEVA

But implementing vaccination measures alone is not enough, as a lack of technical support and knowledge on zoonoses and other infectious diseases that affect poultry can also hinder productivity. Training on animal health practices, market development opportunities, and advice on biosecurity, good management practices, and more are also crucial pieces of the puzzle. Providing this can help to level the playing field between large scale, industrial hatcheries and small-scale producers.

The PREVENT project (Promoting and Enabling Vaccination Efficiently, Now and Tomorrow) is one example of an initiative working to improve poultry production for Africa’s rapidly growing population. In just two years, this four-year initiative has administered 159 million vaccine doses and vaccinated 49 million hatchery chicks. It has also trained 100 field technicians who have conducted 2,600 farm visits and held over 1,400 farmer meetings across four countries in sub-Saharan Africa, to date.

A low-input but high-producing sector, raising chickens offers a reliable pathway out of poverty for many rural households. A small-scale producer can easily sell their chicks or chickens at the market as they are more affordable for the consumer than beef, for example, but also bring a myriad of other benefits. They add value to social structures, are high in protein, and, on top of this, can directly benefit women who in fact make up the majority of smallholder poultry farmers in the developing world.

Small-scale chicken farmer in Tanzania/Arusha, 2015. Credit: Karel Prinsloo/GALVmed

Against the backdrop of a global cost of living crisis, record-breaking temperatures, and ongoing conflicts, closing the inequality gap for smallholder farmers is critical to build a sustainable future for all. Supporting small-scale producers with training, animal health measures, and much more can help to level the playing field, one small-scale producer at a time, just like Helena.

Writen by Enrique Hernández Pando, GALVmed’s Executive Director, Commercial Development & Impact.

Celebrating 2 years of achievements with PREVENT

Posted on by team galvmed

Poultry is an affordable and accessible asset for small-scale producers in Africa, but the effectiveness of vaccination has been limited and rural producers can have their flocks wiped out overnight due to preventable diseases.

PREVENT was launched in April 2021 as an initiative to establish an innovative and pragmatic veterinary health approach in Africa through medium-size hatchery vaccination. PREVENT comprises various workstreams and operations that are connecting the key pieces to achieve this endgame, and in this blog, we explore some of our achievements so far.

  • Hatchery vaccination: The initiative aims to equip 36 mid-size African hatcheries with the necessary equipment and expertise (vaccination techniques, maintenance, hatchery biosecurity practice, quality assurance, and vaccination monitoring) so that the hatcheries will be able to provide customers with large numbers of chicks vaccinated against the major infectious poultry diseases. Farmers and poultry producers buying these vaccinated chicks will have better chances at ensuring flock health, reducing risk of bird losses, securing income, and overall, running more successful businesses. PREVENT has launched activities in 8 countries (Tanzania, Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Africa, Rwanda, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe) and onboarded 24 hatcheries so far. This has allowed the initiative to administer 109 million doses of vaccines to 37 million day-old chicks (an average of 3 vaccine doses per chick). Diseases against which the chicks are vaccinated include Infectious bursal disease, Newcastle disease, Infectious bronchitis, and Marek’s disease.
  • Training and market development: Vaccination alone is not enough, and the lack of technical support and information about circulating infectious diseases is also a major constraint. To date, PREVENT has trained 100 Field Technicians in Tanzania, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and Ethiopia to provide advice and technical support to small-scale poultry keepers. In serving as the link between the hatcheries and the poultry farmers, the field technicians will also foster demand for, and create markets for vaccinated day-old chicks. Since activities started in September 2022, these field technicians have visited 1,800 farms and held over 100 meetings with farmers.
  • Gender inclusion: The PREVENT initiative seeks to bring a pragmatic level of understanding of gender dynamics within the poultry sector with the goal of positively impacting women chicken producers through the hatchery intervention. To serve this purpose, a rapid gender landscaping analysis was conducted in 3 countries representing East, West, and Southern Africa (Tanzania, Nigeria and Zimbabwe).
  • Epidemiological studies: This is an integrated component of the initiative that aims to explore and describe the epidemiology of poultry diseases at the level of small-scale poultry producers. To date, activity has started in Tanzania, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire where 52 samples have been collected.

Introducing changes upstream, at the hatchery level, echoes the positive impact all the way down to the farmer level, and contributes to creating a sound and sustainable system that will lead to an improvement in poultry productivity and efficiency in the targeted African countries.

April 2023 marks the second anniversary of this 4-year initiative. Much has been achieved so far, and much is yet to come.

The PREVENT initiative (PRomoting and Enabling Vaccination Efficiently, Now and Tomorrow) is a partnership between Ceva Santé Animale (a global veterinary health company) and GALVmed, with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

This blog was written by Patricia Valdeón Noya as part of the campaign “Celebrating 2 years of PREVENT”

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:

East African Community Mutual Recognition Procedure: What is it and why is it important?

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Obtaining approval to sell veterinary medicines in the market requires a marketing authorisation (licence) from the National Regulatory Authority in each country where the product is to be sold. In East Africa, this involves applying for a marketing authorisation separately in each country. This is often lengthy, resource-intensive, and unpredictable.

Since 2011, the East African Community (EAC) with support from GALVmed, AU-PANVAC (Pan African Veterinary Vaccine Centre of African Union) and HealthforAnimals (the global animal health industry association) has been implementing the EAC’s Mutual Recognition Procedure (MRP) system which allows applicants to apply simultaneously for licences in multiple countries. This saves time and allows countries and applicants to use their resources more efficiently. MRP increases the likelihood for the sustainable supply of quality registered veterinary medicines in the region.

The first licence under MRP was issued for a veterinary vaccine in October 2018. Since then, several applications, immunological and pharmaceutical, have been processed and are now authorised in multiple countries in the EAC. This has contributed to increased access to quality safe, efficacious veterinary medicines.

Numerous benefits

Apart from saving time and resources in the submission process, MRP has other benefits. For the National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs), some of the benefits include:

  • Increased efficiencies by avoiding duplication of effort
  • Increased likelihood of improved quality of dossier submitted
  • The approach builds trust between assessors and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) inspectors
  • Identical dossier is submitted to all   participating NRAs
  • Approved veterinary medicines have the same finished product specification and SPC across the region
  • For inexperienced and less resourced NRAs, have an opportunity to learn and benefit from the more experienced and resourced NRAs 

And benefits to the industry include:

  • One dossier format to all NRAs
  • One procedure with one set of questions agreed on by the Reference Country ant the Concerned Country/Countries and based on a specific time-line – a predictable process that enhances planning 
  • Harmonised release criteria
  • Harmonised label claims
  • Possibility of fewer field trials
  • Harmonised post marketing activities – variations and renewal times harmonised and granted/approved at the same time and hence rapid introduction of new veterinary medicines in the market

All these benefits translate to increased likelihood of sustainable supply of quality registered veterinary medicines to livestock producers in the region.

Current progress

Since being introduced, the MRP process has received submissions from seven (7) global and African companies. Several applications for immunological and pharmaceutical products have been processed and authorised in multiple countries in the EAC, and approval time has been reduced significantly to about 12 months.

The MRP initiative is set to expand to include veterinary pesticides and subsequently, veterinary medical devices. The goal of improving access to quality veterinary medicines in EAC region with limited regulatory capacity could be addressed through regulatory reliance.

Blog written by Adelaide Ayoyi

Using a Randomised Control Trial to study the impact of Newcastle Disease vaccine on poultry farmer welfare and livelihoods

Posted on by team galvmed

In 2020, Oxford Policy Management (OPM) was contracted by GALVmed to implement an intervention and conduct an associated impact study on the adoption of a Newcastle Disease Vaccine (NDV) by small-scale poultry farmers in rural Tanzania in the districts of Chemba and Mbozi. The objective of the study is to quantify the causal effects that the delivery of NDV has on the “production, productivity, and livelihoods of small-scale producers (SSPs)”. The study involves two main activities:

  1. The design and implementation of an NDV intervention in selected SSP farming areas of Tanzania.
  2. The design and implementation of an experimental study to quantify the causal effects of the NDV intervention.

The impact study was designed as a randomised controlled trial (RCT) where the study sample was randomly split into one treatment group and one control group. The treatment group was offered and will continue to be offered the NDV intervention package. This group will be compared with a control group, who did not and will not receive the intervention package during the study. The control group will receive one round of the intervention after the study’s endline survey.

A baseline study was conducted between September and November 2021 and the endline survey is scheduled for September to November 2023. Further details on the RCT and its findings will be made available upon publication of the results.

Blog written by Lamyaa Al-Riyami

Developing a Public Private Partnership Framework for FMD in Eastern Africa

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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

Contributing to the Sustainable Supply and Delivery of Foot and Mouth Disease Vaccine in Eastern Africa

Posted on by team galvmed

Endemic throughout Eastern Africa, Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) can devastate livestock productivity and severely hamper small-scale producers’ livelihoods and food security. FMD is a complex disease with a lot of strain variation, and there is currently no suitable vaccine that addresses all the risks in the region. Recognizing these challenges, the AgResults FMD Vaccine Challenge Project encourages the development and uptake of high-quality FMD vaccines tailored to Eastern Africa. The Pay-for-Results prize competition includes several activities to support the long-term sustainability of FMD vaccine supply and delivery in six target countries (Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda).

The Project’s cost-share approach supports the sustainable supply of FMD vaccines by partially covering the purchase costs of high-quality FMD vaccines over a four-year period and driving initial uptake. Once the vaccines’ efficacy is demonstrated in the field, regional demand is expected to grow, ensuring a more stable market that ultimately benefits the typical end-users: small-scale producers.

In addition to the cost-share mechanism, the Project team is conducting several other activities to contribute to the long-term sustainability of FMD vaccine supply and delivery in the Eastern African region:

(*) Eastern African FMDV Reference Antigen Panel
(**) Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Framework

A combination of activities—from ensuring quality standards to coordinating with regional institutions to encourage private sector delivery—is needed to build a stable FMD vaccine market in Eastern Africa when the Project comes to an end. These efforts will enable small-scale producers  to access the vaccines they need to keep their livestock healthy.

For more information on the AgResults FMD Vaccine Challenge Project, visit the GALVmed and AgResults website.

Written by Nina Henning

All female poultry vaccinators in Ethiopia

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An all-female vaccinator group is tackling a deadly poultry disease in Ethiopia.

The Newcastle Disease vaccine project in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia started in January 2017. Its objective was to introduce and implement a Newcastle Disease vaccination and general poultry health and management programme.

In 30 districts in Tigray through female village vaccinators, with the goal to reach 150,000 households, the project aims to empower women whose minimum education qualification is Grade 10 who are categorised as landless women.

(Video by Pius Sawa, WRENmedia consultant, for GALVmed.)

Improving the livelihoods of Malawian vaccinators and poultry farmers

Posted on by team galvmed

A community vaccinators association in Malawi is increasing the capacities and incomes of local
vaccinators, whilst helping poultry farmers maintain the health of their chickens and boost their income
from poultry keeping. At the Nathenje Community Vaccinators Association (NCVA), vaccinators are
receiving training in improved poultry production practices, the control of Newcastle Disease (ND) and
increasing the uptake of the ND I-2 vaccine in rural communities. ND is a fatal and contagious disease
of poultry, with outbreaks killing up to 80-90% of affected flocks. However, through the work of NCVA
vaccinators to increase awareness and availability of the vaccine, farmers are reporting fewer poultry
deaths as a result of ND. At the same time, through their work, vaccinators are enhancing their earnings
and the wellbeing of their families.

NCVA was formed in 2010 by Inter Aide – a French organisation devoted to the implementation of
programmes aimed at promoting access to resources for the most vulnerable communities in developing
countries. Inter Aide’s ND vaccination programme is intended to provide a solution to ND, whilst creating
employment opportunities for youths in rural areas. Since 2010, more than 500 youths in the region have
been trained as community vaccinators and are now contributing to the rural vaccination activities carried
out by three separate associations in Lilongwe, Phalombe and Zomba.

A productive partnership

Due to high demand for the I-2 ND vaccine in the region, in 2015 Inter Aide partnered with the Global
Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines (GALVmed) – a not-for-profit company dedicated to making
livestock health products accessible and affordable to smallholder farmers in Africa and South Asia – to
increase access to the vaccine. “The GALVmed/Inter Aide collaboration works to improve the nutrition
and livelihoods of smallholder livestock producers, and enhance family farm productivity and resilience
in an increasingly changing climate,” says Samuel Adediran, GALVmed’s Assistant Director for Market
Development and Access. “Death from preventable diseases such as ND have limited the benefits of
chicken rearing to families. It is against this background that GALVmed sought to intervene in this sector,”
Adediran continues.

ND vaccines have been available in large dose packs to commercial chicken farmers – catering for between
500-1,000 chickens and more – but such large dose packages are ill-suited to backyard poultry keepers with five to ten chickens. Other factors which have contributed to poor access of the ND vaccine include: a lack of awareness of the value of vaccination among farmers, limited access to suitable agrovet shops, and lack of electricity in rural areas to power refrigerators that are necessary to keep vaccines viable.

Awareness of the thermotolerant I-2 vaccine, produced in smaller doses by the Central Veterinary Laboratory (CVL) in Lilongwe, has increased through campaigns supported by the GALVmed/Inter Aide partnership. The financial support from GALVmed has also made it possible to extend ND vaccination services to many rural communities.

Graça Archer, Programme Officer for Inter Aide’s ND Control Programme, says each campaign is methodical and runs for four months. “During the first month, community vaccinators go door to door to carry out poultry registration. This includes recording the number of chickens for vaccination and how many vials are needed per house. The second and third months are for the actual vaccination of the chickens, and the fourth month is for review of the successes and challenges,” Archer explains. She adds that the peak of the campaign takes place in July, shortly after the harvest season, when farmers have more money to buy and sell chickens.

The exchange of chickens during this time increases the risk of transmitting the ND infection, and is also the time when ND outbreak is at its highest. “Acceptance of the vaccine in July is high. For instance, last year we vaccinated 590,800 chickens during this month,” says Archer.

ND vaccine boosts business incomes

Eveless Makalani from Lumbwe village in Kalumbu, Lilongwe district, is a poultry farmer with 51 chickens and has worked with the community vaccinators for almost a year. She became aware of NCVA’s work through farmer-to-farmer extension meetings held during chicken vaccinations. Prior to vaccinating her flock, Malakani says she sold her chickens at a maximum price of 2,000 Malawian Kwacha (MK) (US $2.70). Now, one of her vaccinated chickens sells for MK 3,500 (US $4.80), which covers the cost of the I-2 ND vaccination for over 50 birds. She adds that the affordability of the vaccine helps to make chicken rearing a viable business in the region. Through the sale of her chickens, Makalani is able to afford farm inputs such as fertilisers and farm implements such as hoes.

Lydia Katengeza is an NCVA member from Chizinga village in Lilongwe district. Katengeza administers the vaccine at a cost of MK 70 (US $0.01) per chicken. “We were first trained as field facilitators in 2014 under a CARE Malawi programme. Then CARE linked us with Inter Aide who trained us on the procedures of how to become community vaccinators,” says Katengeza. She added that the knowledge and procedures she has learnt from the Inter Aide training, such as rural business management, have also been of great benefit to her as a poultry farmer. Her chickens no longer die of ND and she has also managed to help her neighbours overcome the disease. “I have been able to afford 10 goats and to build a good house through my earnings as a vaccinator. I am also able to pay school fees for my children. As a family, we have increased our protein intake due to the improved health of our chickens,” says Katengeza.

Another vaccinator, Yolomosi Tifere from Lumwe village in Mazengera area, has managed to build three houses from the proceeds of his vaccination work. “From every vaccine vial of 300 doses I administer, I make a profit of MK 5,100 (US $7). In one month when there is a good response from farmers to have their chickens vaccinated, I am able to finish close to 15 bottles of the I-2 vaccine. This translates to a revenue amounting MK 76,500 (US $105),” says Tifere.

Through the project, GALVmed hopes to improve the long-term benefits of chicken production such as
household incomes, child nutrition and education, and employment generation in rural areas. However, there are also challenges. Demand for the ND vaccine is growing and the production capacity of CVL to meet local demand is limited. Options to mitigate this supply gap include investment in the equipment and capacity of CVL to increase production, and/or strategically open up the market and allow ND vaccine importation.

(Written by Charles Mkoka for WrenMedia.)

Newcastle Disease vaccine: Creating sustainability through commercial delivery systems

Posted on by team galvmed

Making livestock vaccines and medicines easily accessible to smallholder farmers is a vital component of the value chain. If the vaccines are beyond reach, the farmers will not benefit and their livestock will suffer.  In Mayurbhanj district of Odisha, India, local retail shops provide the much needed solution to a glaring gap by stocking and making readily available, essential livestock vaccines and medicines such as the Newcastle Disease (ND) vaccine. Often, they are regular medicine shop owners, who are now finding that stocking vaccines such as the ND vaccine profitable. Furthermore, these retail shops have the required equipment and knowledge such as cold chain storage management to ensure that the quality of the vaccines are not compromised.

Access to the vaccine and the build-up of new and more efficient commercial supply chains have been facilitated by the Bhodal Milk Producers Cooperative Society (BMPCS), a local NGO in partnership with the non-profit Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines (GALVmed). In the initial days of the project, there were no retailers below the district level who kept and sold the ND vaccine. As a solution BMPCS tried to work with a few vaccinators who could reach the remotest parts of the district.

Sanatan Soren, 32, a vaccinator from Khanda Hari Village, Block Ras Gobindpur comes from a family of farmers. In 2011, BMPCS gave Sanatan and four other vaccinators from the nearby villages a small refrigerator to store vaccines.

This setup or “Vaccination Centre” was one of eight centres that were established in order to streamline the distribution of vaccines in the region. Each vaccination centre would cater for between four and six vaccinators, who would collectively pay Indian rupees 300 (US $ 4.64) to offset the electricity bill (cost) for the refrigerator. However this approach had some drawbacks.

First came the problem of irregular power supply. In the forested parts of Odisha, the period from December to February is locally known as ‘Elephant season’. During this period the government cuts off day-time electricity power supply in entire areas to prevent elephants being electrocuted. This meant that many of the vaccines would be rendered non-potent and cannot be administered. What’s worse is that the Elephant season coincides with outbreaks of Newcastle Disease.

Another obstacle that the vaccination centres encountered was to do with licensing. The distribution of vaccines requires a license from relevant authorities. Most of the vaccination centres did not have formal licenses to operate rendering them technically illegal. This hampered any promotion of the operation and consequently the expansion of the project as most vaccinators would not know of the existence of the centres. Also the entire income was dependent on the sale of a single vaccine and de-wormer unlike the medicine shops where a range of products are sold and small profits from the sale of each product are used to meet the operational costs.

In 2012, BMPCS started to partner with local chemists to stock the ND vaccine. The chemists sold the vaccines at affordable prices to farmers and the results were incredible.

Trilochan Dhal, 48, runs the Jai Guru Dev Medical Store in Kosta, Suryapada a few kilometers away from the district headquarters of Baripada. He has been selling the vaccine for a few years now. He buys each vial at Indian Rupees 18 (US $ 0.03) and sells them at Indian Rupees 22 (US $ 0.35). He sells about 500 vials a month, earning a net profit of about Indian Rupees 2,000 (US $32). It’s a modest amount but it contributes to offsetting some of his monthly expenditure.

Initially Trilochan served only a few vaccinators but as word spread, his customers increased in number. Today he caters for some 40-50 vaccinators from the neighbouring villages and occasionally a few farmers. “I see the demand increasing further in the times to come,” he beams when asked about the prospects.

Piyush Mishra, the Program Manager for BMPCS states “The regular awareness programmes helped in growing the demand while lower cost of the vaccine and easy availability further boosted sales”.

This approach has yielded positive results. In Mayurbhanj, the number of retailers of the ND vaccine has gone up from six in 2012 to 27 in 2017. The total doses of vaccine sold has also gone up from about 50,000 in the same period to between 250,000 and 300,000 currently.

Building sustainable vaccine retail chains has been a vital part of providing farmers with much needed services. The market continues to grow as retail shops earn profits from the sales.  Many of the retailers also double as vaccinators. This points to a healthy demand for the ND vaccine and a sustainable marketplace.

(Written by Deepak Bhadana with edit inputs from Prasenjit De. Photos by Alternatives.)