Overview

VITAL 2 (2025-2030) is a follow-on programme to our flagship VITAL 1 initiative that supported the development and commercialisation of quality, safe and effective livestock vaccines to improve small-scale producers’ livelihoods (SSPs).  VITAL 2 will continue to build the portfolio of available ruminant vaccines and focus on raising the very low vaccination rates of small and large ruminants across sub-Saharan Africa, using private sector-driven initiatives to transform the market for high-quality vaccines to reach small-scale producers in the last mile.

The objective of VITAL 2 is to catalyse a transformation across the entire African ruminant vaccine market, focusing on exemplar areas and initiatives to attain rapid, significant results. These initiatives will focus on three countries (Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria), but it is expected they will drive ongoing growth and expansion of private sector-delivered ruminant vaccination in other countries beyond 2030 through relevant stakeholder groups.

There are three strands of complementary work:

• Enabling the Vaccine Environment, which will develop the necessary vaccine market linkages across the numerous stakeholder groups to enable private sector ruminant vaccine enterprises to become established as a key contributor to the government’s livestock development plans and then rapidly expand.
• Delivering Private Sector Driven Vaccine Supply Chains to create access to ruminant vaccines through upstream (working with vaccine manufacturers) and downstream vaccine initiatives to create awareness among on the inherent value of vaccinating ruminants.
• Progressing Product Development for Ruminant Vaccines to continue the development of novel multivalent ruminant vaccines for widespread use by SSPs.

Overview

Acaricides are a key method to control ticks and prevent tick-borne diseases in cattle. However, inappropriate selection and application of acaricide products can lead to treatment failures and acaricide resistance.

MAHABA (Managing Animal Health and Acaricides for Better Africa) is a 5-year initiative (2021-2026) in collaboration with Elanco Animal Health,  to support small-scale producers in Nigeria and Uganda to manage and effectively control ticks and tick-borne diseases.

The project will develop and deliver an effective and practical strategy to control tick infestations while providing small-scale producers (SSPs) with the necessary tools (acaricides) and knowledge (through an innovative digital platform) to realise significant livestock productivity gains.

MAHABA activities and objectives are designed around three main pillars:

• Market intelligence: To better understand the current use of acaricide by SSPs and related resistance issues
• Awareness and education: To train and educate SSPs on effective use of acaricides to allow sustainable tick control
• Availability and adoption: To facilitate product registration of effective acaricides including small package manufacturing

Objectives

• More than 33 products registered to use against ticks.
• 450,000 farmers trained.
• 29 million of product doses sold.

Videos

The objective of MAHABA

Watch more videos here.