The Vice President of the Commonwealth Medical Association, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, has commended Global Fund’s decision to commit 15 million dollars to deployment of malaria vaccine in sub-Sahara Africa.
Newsmen report that the funding which was secured by the World Health Organisation will be for the first phase of trial of the world class malaria vaccine called RTS,S in Africa in the year 2018.
The vaccine was developed by British drug maker, GlaxoSmithKline (GKS), in partnership with the non-profit PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative and part-funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Dr. Enabulale told newsmen in Benin that the news of the funding was cheering and urged African leaders to see the move as a wakeup call to scale up intervention toward reducing the burden of the disease on the continent.
Enabulele, a former President of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), said that the prevalence of malaria among the under-five children in Africa was still highly unacceptable.
He urged African governments to demonstrate increased commitment to the eradication of the disease from the continent and the entire world.
“Despite the current economic climate, I urge the Federal Government of Nigeria and other African governments to make greater commitment to research efforts for development of malaria vaccine.
“I am convinced that Africa’s long-term success in the global campaign to defeat malaria will be greatly enhanced with improved investments in research for development of an effective vaccine as well as research into other ways of combating emerging threats such as parasite resistance,” he said.
