Ex President Challenges West African Pharmacologists On Research
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has challenged members of the West African Society of Pharmacology (WASP) to spearhead research for the production of vaccines to contain epidemics that are endemic in the sub-region.
READ ALSO: PAWED to Present Research Work on Women Empowerment
Jonathan made the call at a programme of the West African Society of Pharmacology held in Abuja on Saturday.
The former President said that the world had been experiencing outbreak of viral diseases, some of which were more prevalent in West Africa
Jonathan said that pharmacologists and scientists in related disciplines must give their best to ensure that such peculiar health challenges were adequately tackled.
“Let me therefore, use this opportunity to task and challenge pharmacological scientists in this sub region to invest more energy in finding solutions to medical challenges, especially the ones that are peculiar to us.
“The sub-region is in dire need of essential Covid-19 vaccines, following the imperative of tracking and halting its mutating variants.
“We are now accustomed to hearing of the outbreak of new viral diseases, some of which are more prevalent in our part of the world.
“One of such diseases is the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD)which has killed thousands in West Africa. In 2014 an outbreak in Guinea spread to many West African countries including Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.
“My administration had the good fortune of containing the spread through a clinical contact tracing mechanism which significantly reduced the fatality rate in the country,” he said.
Jonathan further observed that Ghana recently reported its first two cases of the deadly Marburg virus, which unfortunately claimed the lives of both victims, adding that the sub-region needed to do more to contain the spread of such outbreaks.
Emphasising that some of the diseases were endemic in West Africa, Jonathan further cited an example of the sickle cell disease (SCD).
He said that the management of sickle cell disease was still a big problem for us in Africa.
Jonathan said that sickle cell anaemia contributed the equivalent of five per cent of deaths of under-five-year-old children on the African continent.
“Sadly, more than nine per cent of such deaths occur in west Africa, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
“In the case of Nigeria, a recent WHO report indicated that 24 per cent of the Nigerian population are carriers of the mutant gene while the prevalence of sickle-cell anaemia is about 20 per 1,000 births.
NAN
