Invest in indigenous vaccines, experts urge Nigerian government

As the world anticipates the final results of the RTS,S vaccine for malaria, stakeholders in the Nigerian health sector have advised governments at all levels to support local vaccine projects with adequate funding. 

According to Dr. Osahon Enebulele, national president of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), the government needs to throw its weight behind the development of vaccines against local strains of the malaria parasite.

“We strongly call on Nigerian governments at all levels, to invest more in the search for an indigenous malaria vaccine in Nigeria that can protect against other strains of the malaria parasite, besides Plasmodium falciparum. We also urge scientists and researchers in Africa, and Nigeria in particular to advance the study by replicating it in the various scientific research institutes in Nigeria.”

“As we await the outcome of further clinical trials of the vaccine candidate, the NMA strongly advises great caution in the interpretation of the research finding as more field studies using a larger number of study subjects need to be conducted in order to validate the effectiveness of the vaccine and the duration of the malaria protective period.

“Similarly, we advise that other on-going research efforts to develop other vaccine candidates (about 20 vaccine candidates at various clinical trial stages) should be stepped up.

HealthNewsNG recently did a special series on malaria control in Africa with Dr. Robert Newman, Director of the World Health Organization's Global Malaria Programme. He spoke to HealthNewsNG exclusively and extensively on the current vaccine project and other malaria control initiatives. Read the stories and interview here