World: Gates Foundation, DFID Award $51m to Combat Livestock Diseases
By Henry Neondo
The funding announcement was made Friday by Mr Bill Gates at the 35th session of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)’s Governing Council in Rome , Italy .
“If you care about the poorest, you care about agriculture,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Investments in agriculture are the best weapons against hunger and poverty, and they have made life better for billions of people. The international agriculture community needs to be more innovative, coordinated and focused to really be effective in helping poor farmers grow more. If we can do that, we can dramatically reduce suffering, and build self-sufficiency.”
Livestock provides a critical path for millions in the developing world to escape absolute poverty. For nearly 700 million of the world’s poorest people survival and prosperity are almost entirely dependent on the health of their livestock. Smallholder farmers in the developing world lose at least 25 percent of their livestock every year to disease that could have been controlled through vaccines and medicines. Access to affordable and genuine animal health medicines has been limited for more than 40 years and poor livestock keepers have limited access to vaccines, diagnostics and medicines because they are often expensive and difficult to access and administer.
Friday’s announcement follows one from an award of $28million of funding from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and DFID announced in September 2008. This funding allowed GALVmed to undertake its first major project, Protecting Livestock Saving Human Life 1 (PLSHL1).
Commenting on the award, GALVmed's Interim CEO, Professor Peter Wells said this funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and DFID will enable the GALVmed alliance to work with partners to scale-up access to livestock vaccines, medicines and diagnostics for resource-poor people.
“Across the developing world, livestock are an essential means of funding the most basic needs including food, education and healthcare. We are working to protect livestock and save human lives and livelihoods by making livestock vaccines, diagnostics and medicines accessible and affordable to the millions in developing countries for whom livestock is a lifeline. This announcement today will take us much further in achieving our goal,” he said.
International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell MP said, "For millions of people across the developing world, the wellbeing of their livestock is quite simply a matter of life and death. To a poor farmer, their livestock may be the equivalent of the local supermarket, weekly pay cheque, emergency savings account and medical insurance all rolled in to one. For many, the death of a single animal can be devastating, while to lose an entire herd is to lose everything.
"GALVmed has pioneered work to identify vaccines, medicine and early diagnostic solutions to tackle some of the most devastating livestock diseases that affect poor farmers in the developing world - but that work is of no use if these solutions just sit on the shelf. This new funding from the British taxpayer and from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will ensure that these innovative solutions are produced at scale and that they can get to those who need them most, at an affordable price."
This project focused on the following main diseases namely the East Coast fever, Rift Valley Fever, Newcastle Disease and Porcine Cysticercosis.
Following Friday’s announcement, GALVmed will be able to start phase two of this project; Protecting Livestock, Saving Human Life 2 (PLSHL2).
The funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Department for International Development will allow GALVmed and its partners to bring potential products from proof of concept stage, through development, to commercial proposition and without limitation by intellectual property matters or exclusive commercial rights.
This will help GALVmed to enhance significantly the livelihoods and food security of some of the world’s poorest people.
GALVmed will be providing availability and access to quality animal health medicines, vaccines, and diagnostic tools.