Gates Foundation Launches Livestock Medicine Supply


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Al-Impex Import & Export has begun distributing livestock medicine supplied by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Al-Impex Import & Export, which is the correspondent for Zoetis, the US-based company, started the distribution of medicine by being a local partner of the Foundation. The two launched the initiative on September 20, 2019. Zoetis launched African Livestock Productivity & Health Advancement Initiative in May 2017 to establish sustainable veterinary diagnostic networks and animal health infrastructure in Uganda, Nigeria, followed by Tanzania and Ethiopia in 2018. Funded by a 14.4-million-dollar grant from the Foundation and co-founded by Zoetis, the initiative aims to improve livestock health and positively impact farmers livelihood in Sub-Saharan Africa. The grant will enable Zoetis to develop veterinary laboratory networks and outreach services to increase the availability of local medicine and services, implement disease diagnostics and strengthen local veterinary expertise. Sub-Saharan Africa has some of the largest livestock populations in the world. Nigeria has 144 million chickens and 131 million ruminants. Ethiopia has 57 million cattle, Uganda has 3.2 million and Tanzania has 107 million livestock.


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