Game-Changer for African Farmers: New Project to Revolutionize Access to Veterinary Medicines
An ambitious new initiative supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is set to transform the veterinary landscape for millions of livestock farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. According to a news release from the Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines (GALVmed), this 3-year project aims to streamline regulation and improve access to high-quality veterinary products.
With approximately 800 million livestock keepers, the livestock sector in Africa is crucial, contributing between 30 to 50% of the agricultural GDP and supporting the livelihoods and food security of around 350 million people. However, the high prevalence of livestock diseases remains a significant barrier to increasing farmers’ incomes and enhancing agricultural development.
Currently, the registration process for veterinary medicines in Africa is cumbersome and time-consuming. By improving and harmonizing the registration systems across nations, the new project seeks to simplify these processes, saving time and resources while ensuring the quality, safety, and efficacy of veterinary products.
One of the main challenges is the lack of an overarching framework or governance structure for cooperation between agencies responsible for veterinary medicines in Africa. This project aims to support the development of a long-term governance structure to improve access to high-quality veterinary medicines through coordinated regulation.
The 'Better Regulation' project is a collaborative effort involving multiple partners, including GALVmed, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), the UK Veterinary Medicines Directorate (UK-VMD), and the East African Community (EAC), with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The project aims to significantly improve the predictability, efficiency, and transparency of regulatory processes required to bring new veterinary products to market, thus increasing product availability and improving animal health and livestock production.
The project will further develop a Self-Assessment Tool to help regulatory agencies assess and strengthen their regulatory capacity. This tool will enable agencies to prioritize their capacity-building efforts and measure progress over time, thereby improving their ability to regulate veterinary products effectively.
The project will also build on the success of the East African Community (EAC) Mutual Recognition Procedure (MRP), a novel approach to veterinary product registration that allows for simultaneous application of marketing authorizations in multiple countries within the EAC. The goal is to improve MRP efficiency and sustainability, leading to reduced timelines for registration and an increase in the number of veterinary products submitted and approved through the EAC MRP.
Improved regulation of veterinary products benefits everyone. Farmers will have increased access to safe, effective, and quality veterinary products. National medicine regulatory authorities will be better equipped to regulate medicines in a timely manner by improving regulatory processes. Manufacturers and their local representatives will benefit from simplified, transparent, predictable, and standardized regulatory approval processes. Overall, these efforts to advance and improve regulatory systems will enhance animal health and livestock production across sub-Saharan Africa.
