…urges UN and WHO to speed up research process.
The United Nations (UN) and World Health Organization (WHO) have been urged to put more focus on the production of a malaria vaccine.
Billionaire businessman, Politician and philanthropist, Prince Ned Nwoko said this over the weekend when he played host to the UN Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, the WHO Nigerian Representative, Dr Walter Kazadi Mulombo and many top diplomats, researchers, scholars and several other stakeholders.
In a statement by Nosike A.O, Strategic Communication Adviser, Prince Ned Nwoko Foundation, the former lawmaker at Mount Ned Resort in Idumuje-Ugboko, Delta State, stressed the need for greater Public-Private sector synergy including multilateral agencies in the quest to achieve a malaria-free Africa.
The event is part of the Ned Nwoko Foundation’s plan to build wider coalition towards wiping out malaria from Nigeria and the African continent as a whole.
The statement further quoted him as saying; “vaccines were invented for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 even at a stage when the true causative factors of the pandemic were still a mystery.
“Thus, malaria which has mosquito clearly identified as its cause, ought to present lesser challenge with regard to vaccine research.”
The founder of Malaria eradication in Africa programme, further stated that the speed used in inventing the Covid-19 vaccine should also be applied to malaria.
Speaking on behalf of their respective organizations Edward Kallon and Dr. Walter Kazadi Mulombo both pledged support for the malaria eradication programme of the Ned Nwoko Foundation.
Representative of the WHO, Dr. Walter Kazadi Mulombo also revealed that the malaria vaccine which is currently at stage four of clinical trial has been rolled out in pilot projects in three countries in sub-Saharan Africa namely; Ghana, Malawi and Kenya.
According to him; “the trials have also shown that the vaccine provides modest protection against clinical and severe malaria in young infants.”
Stating the importance of a Public-Private Partnership in the drive to achieving a lasting result in the anti-malaria campaign, the UN Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, while bemoaning the negative effectts of Covid-19 on the economy of some developed nations, he also asserted that malaria have also been ravaging the economy of African countries.
Project Coordinator of the foundation, Mr. Chukwuebuka Anyaduba, explained at the event that the Ned Nwoko Foundation is eager and desirous of collaborating with the UN and WHO on the Malaria Project, particularly on the areas of advocacy, vaccine implementation, environmental management and international diplomacy.
