African Union institutions and key partners have opened a high-level consultative meeting in Nairobi aimed at strengthening veterinary product regulation across the continent. The three-day session, held from 17 to 19 November 2025, brings together AU-IBAR, AU-PANVAC, GALVmed, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, national regulators, Chief Veterinary Officers, regional bodies and industry representatives.
The gathering seeks to address long-standing barriers to accessing quality veterinary medicines and vaccines—an issue that contributes heavily to Africa’s annual loss of more than USD 4 billion to preventable animal diseases.
In her opening remarks, AU-IBAR Director Dr. Huyam Salih emphasised the critical role of livestock in food security and livelihoods. She identified fragmented regulatory systems, slow product approvals, weak enforcement, counterfeit medicines and poor cold-chain infrastructure as major constraints. She called for urgent reforms to ensure that veterinary products are safe, affordable and reliably available across Africa.
A key agenda item is the review of the draft Terms of Reference (TORs) for the proposed Pan-African Regulatory Authorities Network on Veterinary Products (PARAN-VPs), developed by AU-IBAR and AU-PANVAC. The Network aims to harmonise regulatory standards, boost information sharing, strengthen national and regional capacity, improve emergency authorisation processes and increase transparency between regulators, manufacturers and other stakeholders.
Under the TORs, PARAN-VPs would operate through a Steering Committee, a Secretariat hosted at AU-IBAR and a continent-wide membership of national regulatory authorities.
Breakout sessions during the meeting will focus on accelerating registration timelines, tackling counterfeit products, improving alignment with One Health and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) priorities, and expanding public–private collaboration.
By the end of the meeting, participants aim to agree on priority elements of the Network’s TORs, a governance framework, an implementation roadmap and a joint communiqué outlining next steps. Future actions include securing political endorsement through AU structures, mobilising resources and establishing the Network’s Secretariat.
Beyond harmonisation, the Nairobi meeting addresses broader issues of governance, technical capacity, vaccine standards, mutual recognition processes and coordination among AU institutions, regional communities, national regulators and the private sector.
The initiative reinforces AU-IBAR’s commitment—alongside AU-PANVAC and partners—to modernising veterinary governance systems and advancing preventative animal health measures across Africa’s livestock sector.