Tanzania and Implementation of East Africa Mutual Recognition of Veterinary Medicines

Tanzania has the third largest livestock population in Africa (after Ethiopia and Sudan), but the competitiveness of Tanzania’s livestock sector faces many challenges, including lack of access to good-quality, effective, safe veterinary drugs and vaccines, especially for smallholders. Availability of good-quality, affordable, effective inputs (including veterinary drugs, vaccines, and compound animal feed) in the market is critical to increasing productivity and ensuring the safety of the animals. Taking these challenges into consideration, in 2017, the government asked the Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA) and the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries to establish measures and mechanisms to increase the availability of drugs and vaccines in the country. The TFDA has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Tanzania Veterinary Council to minimize overlap of functions between them and to increase the availability of quality regulatory services. Effective implementation of the mutual recognition procedures (MRP) will enhance faster registration and availability of good-quality, safe, effective immunological veterinary products (IVPs) and may lower IVP costs