WHO recommends new malaria vaccine

Published

2 years ago

October 2, 2023

The World Health Organisation has recommended a new vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, for the prevention of malaria in children.

The recommendation follows advice from the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation and the Malaria Policy Advisory Group and was endorsed by the WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, following its regular biannual meeting held on September 25 -29.

The global health body disclosed this on Monday, in a press statement.

In April, Nigeria became the second country to approve the R21 malaria vaccine, after Ghana.

The R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine, developed by the University of Oxford and manufactured and scaled up by the Serum Institute of India, is only the second vaccine the world has seen for a disease that has caused untold suffering for millennia.

WHO also issued recommendations on the advice of SAGE for new vaccines for dengue and meningitis, along with immunisation schedules and product recommendations for COVID-19.

WHO also issued key immunisation programmatic recommendations on polio, Immunisation Agenda 2030, and recovering the immunisation programme.

The R21 vaccine is the second malaria vaccine recommended by WHO, following the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine, which received a WHO recommendation in 2021.

“Both vaccines are shown to be safe and effective in preventing malaria in children and, when implemented broadly, are expected to have high public health impact,” the statement read partly.

Malaria, a mosquito-borne disease, places a particularly high burden on children in the African Region, where nearly half a million children die from the disease each year.

WHO said the demand for malaria vaccines is unprecedented; however, available supply of RTS,S/AS01 vaccine is limited.

In response to the high demand for the first-ever malaria vaccine, 12 countries in Africa were in July allocated a total of 18 million doses of RTS,S/AS01 for the 2023–2025 period.

The allocations were made to Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Niger, Sierra Leone and Uganda.

However, the addition of R21 to the list of WHO-recommended malaria vaccines is expected to result in sufficient vaccine supply to benefit all children living in areas where malaria is a public health risk.

“As a malaria researcher, I used to dream of the day we would have a safe and effective vaccine against malaria. Now we have two,” said Dr Ghebreyesus. “Demand for the RTS,S vaccine far exceeds supply, so this second vaccine is a vital additional tool to protect more children faster, and to bring us closer to our vision of a malaria-free future.”

The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, emphasised the importance of this recommendation for the continent, saying: “This second vaccine holds real potential to close the huge demand-and-supply gap. Delivered to scale and rolled out widely, the two vaccines can help bolster malaria prevention and control efforts and save hundreds of thousands of young lives in Africa from this deadly disease.”

At least 28 countries in Africa plan to introduce a WHO-recommended malaria vaccine as part of their national immunisation programmes.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance has approved providing technical and financial support to roll out malaria vaccines to 18 countries.

WHO also noted that the RTS,S vaccine will be rolled out in some African countries in early 2024, and the R21 malaria vaccine is expected to become available to countries in mid-2024.

According to Moeti, Nigeria has seen major progress but accounts for around 27 per cent of the global burden of malaria cases.

Moeti noted that Nigeria’s malaria incidence has fallen by 26 per cent since 2000, from 413 per 1000 to 302 per 1000 in 2021, and malaria deaths also fell by 55 per cent, from 2.1 per 1000 population to 0.9 per 1000 population.

“Drivers of this continuing disease burden include the size of Nigeria’s population, making scaling up intervention challenging; suboptimal surveillance systems, which pick up less than 40 per cent of the country’s malaria data; inadequate funding to ensure universal interventions across all states; and health-seeking behaviour, where people use the private sector, with limited regulation, preferentially,” she stated.

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LP Chieftain Urges Obi to Resist Pressure to Quit Party

Published

10 hours ago

April 27, 2025

Tunde-Olubo Bukunmi

Dr. Ayo Olorunfemi, the Deputy National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), has advised Peter Obi, the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, to dismiss any suggestions urging him to abandon the party before the 2027 elections.

Speaking in Lagos on Sunday during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, Olorunfemi — who contested the 2024 Ondo State governorship election on the LP platform — stressed that Obi’s focus should be on strengthening the Labour Party instead of seeking new political alignments.

Although he acknowledged Obi’s legal right to associate with any political group, Olorunfemi warned him to be cautious of what he described as “dangerous advances.”

He emphasized, “Now that he has contested and he has seen the LP force, if he decides to go to another political party, it will then speak volumes of his intention.

It will tell whether he truly believed in the ideology of the Labour Party before coming to run, or he just wanted to use the opportunity of the platform.”

Olorunfemi added that Obi’s future moves would be closely scrutinized by the Nigerian electorate:
“So, it will now be left for Nigerians to decide whether Obi, who got millions of votes under the Labour Party, can still be voted for under the PDP or another party.”

Giving personal advice, Olorunfemi continued, “He (Obi) must use his tongue to count his teeth. If I were he, what I would be doing now is working to restore peace in the Labour Party and rebuild it.

He should find a way to resolve the issues in the party and remain on the platform. He should remain in the party and restore peace. He should stay and resolve the crises he and others created in LP.”

He cautioned that defecting to another party would present Obi as just another career politician:
“Moving around will portray him as an opportunistic politician, not different from these politicians jumping here and there.”

Olorunfemi, reflecting on the internal challenges facing the Labour Party, insisted that Obi still had the influence needed to heal the party’s divisions.

He recalled how several aspirants stepped aside in 2022 to make room for Obi’s presidential run under the LP banner.

Nonetheless, he stressed that the party would endure even if Obi chose to leave, maintaining its role as a vibrant opposition force.

Addressing the ongoing leadership rift within the Labour Party, Olorunfemi defended the Julius Abure-led National Working Committee (NWC), insisting they had committed no wrong against Obi or his supporters.

He pointed out that the NWC had risked both personal safety and political standing to back Obi during the 2023 election:
“What is the offence of Abure? He stood in the sun, stood in the rain. All of us in the NWC stood by him (Obi). In spite of all the attacks, we stood by him.

My own people, in the course of fighting for him (Obi), called me names for fighting for someone not from my tribe. LP is blind to ethnicity, and I supported him because I believe in politics devoid of ethnic sentiment.”

While admitting that political organizations naturally experience internal conflict, he stressed that LP’s actions have remained constitutional:

“There is bound to be a crisis. People will come with different things in mind, but we have to moderate everything like we are doing now in LP.

Everything we are doing in the Labour Party is in line with our constitution. That is our strength.”

Olorunfemi concluded by inviting critics to challenge the NWC’s decisions through constitutional means:
“Anybody who wants to challenge the authority of the NWC should challenge it to the constitution.

They should show us the aspect of the constitution that has been violated. If they confront us with the facts, then we will agree with them.”

The Labour Party has been grappling with leadership struggles since its defeat in the 2023 presidential election, which has continued to test the unity of the party.

ROAMAN NEWS

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NiMet Forecasts Thunderstorms, Dust Haze Across Multiple States

Published

10 hours ago

April 27, 2025

Tunde-Olubo Bukunmi

Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has forecasted a mix of thunderstorms and hazy weather conditions for several states across the country from Sunday through Tuesday.

In a weather bulletin released on Saturday in Abuja, NiMet announced, “There will be moderate dust haze in states like Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara, Borno, Kano, Yobe, and Jigawa.”

The agency further indicated that isolated thunderstorms are likely in Adamawa and Taraba States over the forecast period, according to a post made on its X account.

For the North-Central zone, NiMet predicted partly cloudy skies during the morning hours.

However, by afternoon and evening, areas including the Federal Capital Territory, Plateau, Kogi, Nasarawa, and Benue States might experience isolated thunderstorms.

Southern Nigeria is expected to see morning thunderstorms in Lagos, Cross River, Rivers, Bayelsa, and Akwa Ibom States. Thunderstorms could also become more widespread across other southern states later in the day.

Moving into Monday, the forecast suggests that most parts of the North will experience predominantly sunny weather.

Nonetheless, morning thunderstorms could occur in parts of Taraba and Adamawa. As the day progresses, thunderstorms may develop in Kaduna, Bauchi, and Gombe States.

Meanwhile, in North-Central Nigeria, thunderstorms are anticipated during the morning hours in Plateau, Nasarawa, and Benue States, with an increased chance of further storms later in the afternoon and evening.

For the South on Monday, Bayelsa, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, and Edo States are projected to face morning thunderstorms, with the likelihood of even more rainfall in the afternoon across numerous southern locations.

Looking ahead to Tuesday, NiMet said, “sunny weather with some clouds in the North, along with morning thunderstorms in parts of Adamawa and Taraba States.” Later in the day, parts of Kaduna, Adamawa, and Taraba could also be hit by thunderstorms.

In the North-Central region, partly cloudy mornings are expected, but afternoon and evening thunderstorms may develop in the Federal Capital Territory, Kogi, Kwara, Benue, and Niger States.

Across the South, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, and Bayelsa States are forecasted to experience early morning thunderstorms, with continued rainfall activity expected throughout the day across the region.

NiMet urged the public to remain cautious, warning that strong winds could precede thunderstorms in certain areas. Residents of the North were also advised to be vigilant against the health risks posed by airborne dust particles.

Furthermore, airline operators were encouraged to stay updated with the latest weather information from NiMet to ensure safe flight operations.

ROAMAN NEWS