Animals: Innovationin Animal Health
Access to Veterinary Care in Emerging Markets
In line with our purpose to nurture the world and humankind by advancing care for animals, we support customers in underserved rural communities working to predict, prevent, detect, and treat illness in animals and to address unmet medical needs. Through this support, we can expand access to preventative tools and early detection of disease, reducing the need for antimicrobials in livestock.
Our work to improve livestock health and positively impact farmers’ livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) launched in 2017 through our African Livestock Productivity and Health Advancement (A.L.P.H.A.) initiative, co-funded with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The five-year initiative began in Uganda, Nigeria and Ethiopia, and later expanded into Tanzania. It strived for gender equality in animal health training and was anchored on three pillars: veterinary medicines and services, veterinary laboratory networks, and training and education.
The A.L.P.H.A. initiative came to a close in August 2022, and all activities were transitioned to the commercial operations of the broader SSA. In 2023, with continued support from the BMGF, we launched a new initiative that scales up our initial A.L.P.H.A. efforts. To learn more about A.L.P.H.A.'s most recent progress, click here.
The new five-year A.L.P.H.A. Plus has an extended focus to cattle and aquaculture in addition to poultry and expanded geographical coverage to seven additional countries in SSA: Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Senegal and Ivory Coast. A.L.P.H.A. Plus is also designed to be ‘gender intentional,’ which means identifying and addressing gender inequalities, gender-based constraints, and inequitable norms and dynamics, then taking steps to address them. In this new initiative, we aim to make significant progress against three major areas over the next five years:
Increased access to an expanded portfolio of quality veterinary medicines, vaccines and services
Expand sustainable diagnostic services, with data-driven decision making
Scaling of the last-mile service delivery network
ASPIRATION
Grow access to vet care in emerging markets
Through our A.L.P.H.A. and A.L.P.H.A. Plus initiatives with focus in Africa, by 2025 we will:
TARGET
Train 100,000 farmers, veterinary professionals and lab technicians
2023 PROGRESS
Trained over 35,000 farmers, veterinarians, para-veterinarians, distributors and lab technicians.1
TARGET
Increase women trainees to 50% of trainees
2023 PROGRESS
23% of in-person trainees are women based on a 12-month rolling average.1
TARGET
Treat 10 million cows with positive implications on smallholder livelihoods, food security and the environment
2023 PROGRESS
Treated 12.7 million cows, exceeded goal by 27%.2,3
TARGET
Treat 200 million chickens with positive implications on smallholder livelihoods, food security and the environment
2023 PROGRESS
Treated 260 million chickens, exceeded goal by 30%.2,4
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1 Progress shown is to date through November 2023 based on a 2019 baseline.
2 Progress shown is to date through November 2023 based on a 2020 baseline.
3 Assumption used that every cow receives at least two doses (treatment and prevention).
4 In 2021, we revised our assumptions from every chicken receiving at least three doses to five doses (treatment and prevention) due to the higher rate of adoption of broader vaccinations. We recalculated 2020 data to reflect this change, and it is reflected in the reported numbers to date.