Boehringer Ingelheim launches ‘LastMile’ initiative to address major barriers in animal healthcare sector in Sub-Saharan Africa

Nairobi, Kenya, 4 December 2018 – Boehringer Ingelheim, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, announced today the launch of the ‘LastMile’ initiative, an integrated, solutions-driven programme that seeks to address crucial animal health challenges by creating consistent availability of animal medical resources in hard-to-reach areas. The initiative targets ruminants, such as sheep, goats along with cattle, and will further expand to include poultry.

Established by Boehringer Ingelheim, with support from the Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines (GALVmed) and funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, LastMile aims to bridge current gaps in access, availability, and awareness of animal healthcare solutions for smallholder farmers in Africa.

The LastMile initiative will address weak distribution channels and help smallholder farmers in Africa, who currently have low levels of awareness about animal diseases, to increase their knowledge on disease prevention and treatment. It was initially launched in Kenya, and will expand to key markets throughout Africa including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Ethiopia, Mali, Nigeria and Tanzania, amongst others.

The programme seeks to create long lasting partnerships with the local farming community, in an effort to establish and drive sustainable businesses that are integrated into the wider national economy.

Diseases affecting livestock can have a devastating impact on animal productivity and production, on trade in live animals, meat and other animal products, on human health and, consequently, on the overall process of economic development¹.

Annual losses to smallholder farmers in Africa from Newcastle disease of poultry and endoparasites exceed 700 million euro annually while losses from East Coast fever and Foot-and-mouth disease are close to 300 million euro annually. Providing access to smallholders to products to prevent these diseases will significantly help reduce losses, improve the livelihood of smallholders and increase availability of affordable animal protein for population in Africa.

To encourage community participation, Boehringer Ingelheim is aiming to establish groups of qualified animal health technicians who will travel to areas which are difficult or impossible to access through usual distribution networks. Boehringer Ingelheim will support the technicians with trainings and awareness, equipping them with appropriate veterinary tools and providing them with data management systems. These systems will help technicians perform efficiently, while improving the tracking of activities, as well as monitoring and evaluation. 

Moreover, in an effort to increase the availability of important veterinary medicinal products across the programme’s main territories, Boehringer Ingelheim will intensify its registration process by adding more regulatory resources. The products scheduled to go through the enhanced registration process will be determined by animal health requirements identified by smallholders in the region and in conformity with local regulations.

Enrique Hernandez Pando, Africa Country Head at Boehringer Ingelheim said: “The LastMile initiative is an important part of the company’s vision, which seeks to improve both human and animal health. Our focus is to equip the farming community with the right set of skills and tools and, at the same time, support local farmers, retailers and distributors while also enhancing disease prevention. From a commercial point of view, the LastMile initiative will contribute to generating higher income for small animal holders from healthier and more productive animals. For the broader community, it will reflect on providing higher quality animal products for human consumption, more sustainable income and better health and education for rural families.” 

In addition, GALVmed’s CEO, Peter Jeffries noted: “The evolving needs of smallholder farmers need to be understood more closely for the animal health industry to be able to positively contribute to agricultural economic development’. GALVmed is committed to accelerating the availability of products that are beneficial for the smallholder farmers and supporting regulatory harmonisation in Africa to widen access. This initiative will eventually increase the availability of quality veterinary medicines in rural areas and ensure sustainable supply of high quality veterinary products to small animal holders.”

Boehringer Ingelheim’s animal health business is the top provider worldwide of parasiticides and vaccines for livestock including ruminants amongst other production animals and pets. The animal health business represents more than 25 per cent of Boehringer Ingelheim’s total revenue and employs more than 10,000 people.

R-L: Boehringer Ingelheim Country Head for Africa Enrique Hernandez, Boehringer's Veterinary Doctor, Dr Joseph Kitur, and GALVmed CEO Dr Peter Jeffries launch the LastMile initiative

The LastMile team at the launch press conference on 4 December 2018

¹Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations | Livestock and Animal Health 

Boehringer Ingelheim

Improving the health and quality of life of patients is the goal of the research-driven pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim. The focus in doing so is on diseases for which no satisfactory treatment option exists to date. The company therefore concentrates on developing innovative therapies that can extend patients’ lives. In animal health, Boehringer Ingelheim stands for advanced prevention.

Family-owned since it was established in 1885, Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the pharmaceutical industry’s top 20 companies. Some 50,000 employees create value through innovation daily for the three business areas human pharmaceuticals, animal health and biopharmaceuticals. In 2017, Boehringer Ingelheim achieved net sales of nearly 18.1 billion euros. R&D expenditure, exceeding three billion euros, corresponded to 17.0 per cent of net sales.

As a family-owned company, Boehringer Ingelheim plans in generations and focuses on long-term success, rather than short-term profit. The company therefore aims at organic growth from its own resources with simultaneous openness to partnerships and strategic alliances in research. In everything it does, Boehringer Ingelheim naturally adopts responsibility towards mankind and the environment.

More information about Boehringer Ingelheim can be found on www.boehringer-ingelheim.com or in our Annual Report.

Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Business Unit

Boehringer Ingelheim is the second largest animal health business in the world. We are committed to creating animal wellbeing through our large portfolio of advanced, preventive healthcare products and services. With net sales of 3.9 billion euros (2017) and around 10,000 employees worldwide, we are present in more than 150 markets. For more information click here.

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