A Path to Prosperity New Directions for African Livestock

4.4 Improving Animal Health
Services in Rural Areas
Improving veterinary services to the rural poor is a
pressing need in terms of improved productivity,
controlling zoonoses and putting in place
mechanisms to allow the prompt detection and
control of epizootics. Three topics have been
identified as key to advancing effective veterinary
service delivery to rural areas.
4.4.1 Assuring Quality of Veterinary
Vaccines and Medicines
Farmers, even poor farmers, are normally willing
to pay for efficacious veterinary medicines. They
also have strong brand loyalty for quality products
and yet all those consulted before compiling this
strategy paper agree that the quality of veterinary
medicines reaching small farmers in Africa is
poor and getting worse. The situation for larger
commercial farmers is tolerable, as they generally
have close links to distributers who are more likely
to stock quality products. For small farmers, quality
remains a significant issue. Most analysis on drug
quality has been done on trypanocides because
of the growing resistance to the limited number
of compounds available to treat this disease.
In countries with trypanosomosis, trypanocides
represent 40–50% of the market for veterinary
medicinal products 52 , worth an estimated $35–40
million per annum across SSA 53 . However in
West Africa, analysis showed that 70–100% of
trypanocides did not conform to what was stated
to be in the product according to the data sheet
supplied 59 . Similar analysis of other therapeutic
groups suggests as many as two thirds of antibiotics
and anthelmintics do not conform. This includes
products bought from formal and informal markets.
Analysis carried out in East Africa showed that
some anthelmintics contained no active ingredient
at all and the researchers concluded that "many
anthelmintic preparations marketed in Kenya are
clearly of very poor quality” 54 .
In addition to development of drug resistance,
drug quality is vital because the poor can’t afford
to waste their money on sub-standard products.
Those small farmers who invest in improving
the quality of their stock, either nutritionally,
genetically or through improved housing, need
veterinary products to protect their investments
and match their improved outputs. Whilst it is
difficult for private vets and veterinary
para-professionals to build reputations when
selling sub-standard products, industry
commentators state that many vendors of
veterinary drugs knowingly sell sub-standard
products either because the profit margins are
higher or because they can’t compete on price if
they stock quality products. It appears to be a race
to the bottom with lack of regulation and reduced
purchasing power speeding up the process.
Furthermore, major pharmaceutical companies
are unwilling to invest in research and
commercialisation of new Africa-specific products
if they risk being undermined by the inability
of national authorities to protect their investment
from counterfeits, doctoring of the product and
generic copies.
Lack of functioning regulatory and quality control
mechanisms are a key concern 55 . West African
commentators cited lack of legislation for veterinary
medicines 56 as a key driver to improved and
harmonised legislation 57 . In east and southern
Africa, industry representatives state that legislation
is adequate, what is missing is the capacity to
enforce the regulations 58 . Chronically underfunded
and weak registration authorities remain a factor
in poor quality control, as the parameters for
registration are either poorly defined or not utilised
and unregistered products are not removed from
the market. Senegal, for example, has 140
veterinary drugs registered but more than 1000
different veterinary drugs marketed 59 . This is typical
of most countries in SSA, with the exception of
S. Africa and Namibia 58 .
The Impetus Strategy Paper I Page 27