Increasing livestock population and disease monitoring
The veterinary ultrasound systems industry in Africa is driven by the rapid growth of the continent's livestock population, which plays an essential role in rural economies and food supplies. The countries that have a lot of livestock include Ethiopia, Sudan, and Kenya, and these three countries have hundreds of millions of cattle, sheep, and goats between them. In some agricultural regions, the livestock industry can contribute as much as 30–40% of the region's agricultural GDP. This steady increase in herd size has created a greater need for efficient tools to manage reproduction and monitor health, which has established the veterinary ultrasound systems as essential tools to help create more efficient productivity and support the sustainable development of livestock.
The need for more sophisticated diagnostic tools is increasing because of the high prevalence of animal disease throughout the region. Outbreaks of transboundary diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease and peste des petits ruminants are occurring and have detrimentally impacted herd health and the average farmer's income. The use of veterinary ultrasound systems enables the veterinarian to quickly diagnose internal abnormalities, complications arising from pregnancy, and disease of the internal organs, which allows for quicker treatment of the animals. This is important in regions where there is a delay in diagnosis that can lead to a loss of significant amounts of revenue and reduced quality of the livestock.
As a result of the increased awareness of agriculture and veterinary practitioners about preventive health care, there is a phased-in approach to adopting imaging technologies. Governments have also begun livestock health initiatives and have developed regional disease surveillance systems.
Expanding veterinary infrastructure in rural regions
The development of veterinary capabilities in rural Africa will provide a growth opportunity for the veterinary ultrasound systems industry. The availability of veterinary services to remote areas has been limited, but continued investment in infrastructure for animal healthcare is beginning to expand service coverage. Many countries are building veterinary centers on the district level and developing community-based animal health programs, which will provide new channels for integrating technological innovations related to veterinary diagnostics, such as ultrasonic systems.
The role of mobile veterinary units is changing the way veterinarians provide services to urban veterinary clinics and livestock in rural areas, and they are becoming widespread in countries such as Tanzania and Nigeria, where they are utilizing portable, rapidly deployable diagnostic tools to help provide veterinary services to pastoral communities and smallholder farmers. By utilizing portable ultrasound equipment as part of mobile veterinary units, veterinarians have much more capacity for performing onsite diagnostics such as pregnancy checks, assessing internal trauma, and regularly tracking an animal's health without requiring farmers to travel long distances.
The increased focus on providing adequate veterinary education and capacity-building initiatives will solidify the groundwork for long-term sustainable adoption of veterinary technology. By implementing training programs targeted toward veterinarians and para-veterinarians, familiarity with the application of ultrasound technology will continue to increase for use in the livestock industry. As more veterinarians and para-veterinarians become more comfortable using imaging units, their acceptance of utilizing imaging units will continue to increase.
