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Access to Veterinary Drugs in Sub-Saharan Africa: Roadblocks and Current Solutions

BACKGROUND: Access to veterinary drugs for livestock has become a major issue over the last decade. Analysis has tended to focus on the demand for these products, while studies looking at the drivers behind their use generally focus on farmer behavior and interactions between veterinarians and farme...

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Autores principales: Jaime, Glória, Hobeika, Alexandre, Figuié, Muriel
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8959935/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35356415
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.558973
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author Jaime, Glória
Hobeika, Alexandre
Figuié, Muriel
author_facet Jaime, Glória
Hobeika, Alexandre
Figuié, Muriel
author_sort Jaime, Glória
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Access to veterinary drugs for livestock has become a major issue over the last decade. Analysis has tended to focus on the demand for these products, while studies looking at the drivers behind their use generally focus on farmer behavior and interactions between veterinarians and farmers. However, the use of drugs also depends on structural factors that determine the functioning of the drug supply chain and farmers' access to the drugs. This article presents an overview of the factors that limit access to veterinary drugs in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as well as the international policy tools and arrangements that claim to improve it. METHODS: We have conducted a scoping review of the scientific and grey literature as well as the publicly-available data from both the animal health industry and international organizations. We aimed to gather information on the veterinary drugs market in SSA as well as on the international norms, recommendations, guidelines, and initiatives that impact SSA farmers' access to these drugs. FINDINGS: We highlight numerous barriers to veterinary drug access in SSA. The SSA market is highly dependent on imports, yet the region attracts little attention from the international companies capable of exporting to it. It suffers from a high level of fragmentation and weak distribution infrastructures and services, and is driven by the multiplication of private non-professional actors playing a growing role in the veterinary drug supply chain. The distribution system is increasingly dualized, with on the one hand the public sector (supported by development organizations) supplying small scale farmers in rural areas, but with limited and irregular means; and on the other side a private sector largely unregulated which supplies commercial and industrial farming systems. Different innovations have been developed at the international and regional levels to try to reduce barriers, such as homogenizing national legislations, donations, and vaccine banks. Alongside decades-old inter-state cooperation, many new forms of public-private partnerships and other hybrid forums continue to emerge, signaling the private sector's increasing influence in global governance. CONCLUSIONS: Policies on animal health would be bolstered by a better understanding of the drivers behind and the components of access to veterinary drugs in different regional and national contexts. Inequalities in drug access need to be addressed and a market-driven approach adopted in order to strengthen our understanding of what determines veterinary drug use at the farm level. Policies should balance the interests of the various stakeholders, being careful not to reinforce bias toward certain diseases deemed “interesting” and neglect others that could prove to be highly important for veterinary public health.
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spelling pubmed-89599352022-03-29 Access to Veterinary Drugs in Sub-Saharan Africa: Roadblocks and Current Solutions Jaime, Glória Hobeika, Alexandre Figuié, Muriel Front Vet Sci Veterinary Science BACKGROUND: Access to veterinary drugs for livestock has become a major issue over the last decade. Analysis has tended to focus on the demand for these products, while studies looking at the drivers behind their use generally focus on farmer behavior and interactions between veterinarians and farmers. However, the use of drugs also depends on structural factors that determine the functioning of the drug supply chain and farmers' access to the drugs. This article presents an overview of the factors that limit access to veterinary drugs in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as well as the international policy tools and arrangements that claim to improve it. METHODS: We have conducted a scoping review of the scientific and grey literature as well as the publicly-available data from both the animal health industry and international organizations. We aimed to gather information on the veterinary drugs market in SSA as well as on the international norms, recommendations, guidelines, and initiatives that impact SSA farmers' access to these drugs. FINDINGS: We highlight numerous barriers to veterinary drug access in SSA. The SSA market is highly dependent on imports, yet the region attracts little attention from the international companies capable of exporting to it. It suffers from a high level of fragmentation and weak distribution infrastructures and services, and is driven by the multiplication of private non-professional actors playing a growing role in the veterinary drug supply chain. The distribution system is increasingly dualized, with on the one hand the public sector (supported by development organizations) supplying small scale farmers in rural areas, but with limited and irregular means; and on the other side a private sector largely unregulated which supplies commercial and industrial farming systems. Different innovations have been developed at the international and regional levels to try to reduce barriers, such as homogenizing national legislations, donations, and vaccine banks. Alongside decades-old inter-state cooperation, many new forms of public-private partnerships and other hybrid forums continue to emerge, signaling the private sector's increasing influence in global governance. CONCLUSIONS: Policies on animal health would be bolstered by a better understanding of the drivers behind and the components of access to veterinary drugs in different regional and national contexts. Inequalities in drug access need to be addressed and a market-driven approach adopted in order to strengthen our understanding of what determines veterinary drug use at the farm level. Policies should balance the interests of the various stakeholders, being careful not to reinforce bias toward certain diseases deemed “interesting” and neglect others that could prove to be highly important for veterinary public health. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-03-09 /pmc/articles/PMC8959935/ /pubmed/35356415 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.558973 Text en Copyright © 2022 Jaime, Hobeika and Figuié. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Veterinary Science
Jaime, Glória
Hobeika, Alexandre
Figuié, Muriel
Access to Veterinary Drugs in Sub-Saharan Africa: Roadblocks and Current Solutions
title Access to Veterinary Drugs in Sub-Saharan Africa: Roadblocks and Current Solutions
title_full Access to Veterinary Drugs in Sub-Saharan Africa: Roadblocks and Current Solutions
title_fullStr Access to Veterinary Drugs in Sub-Saharan Africa: Roadblocks and Current Solutions
title_full_unstemmed Access to Veterinary Drugs in Sub-Saharan Africa: Roadblocks and Current Solutions
title_short Access to Veterinary Drugs in Sub-Saharan Africa: Roadblocks and Current Solutions
title_sort access to veterinary drugs in sub-saharan africa: roadblocks and current solutions
topic Veterinary Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8959935/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35356415
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.558973
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