sitemaster Okeke Christiana Chiamaka, Jos & Emmanuel Adamolekun, Akure
Correspondents
The advent of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) has spiked a lot of interests in multi – national institutions and organizations. Countries are either partnering with the World Health Organization (WHO), or forming alliances with one another to fight the deadly virus.
The need to produce safe and effective drugs and vaccines has become very imperative. The question however, is whether Africa has been left out in the equation remains unanswered.
It is no longer a hidden fact that the African continent has refused to be left out of the global adventure. Huge strides in vaccine development have indeed been taken by determined individuals in various African institutions. Some of these strides include development of a vaccine candidate by Professor Christian Happi, a Molecular Biologist and Geneticist, with his research team at the African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID) in Nigeria. Also, Dr Oladipo Kolawole, a Specialist Medical Virology, Immunology and Bioinformatics and leader of a team of scientists, at the Adeleke University, Osun, Nigeria has also developed a candidate vaccine. Whether these candidate inventions will eventually go the full length to excel in clinical trials and eventually get approval of health authorities for global use is what the world is waiting for
That these giant strides are being made in Nigeria and other African countries at this time is a bold statement that African-based scientists have come of age and are willing not to make their mars in the world of scientific research and inventions.
Unfortunately, while the African scientists are demonstrating an indomitatble disposition, they are often frustrated by lack of funding. It is indeed saddening that while advanced nations pump in resources towards the development of effective vaccines, the African researcher remains stuck, most times, as he depends largely on his own pocket to drive his research endeavors.
A painful reality is the constant dependence on the western world for funding.This goes to say that if we do not get help from the developed nations, then the continent cannot achieve results. This must change if we desire to assume the revered position of research leaders and stay competitive with Nobel Laureates in science.
The current unveilling of the Healthcare Research Grant by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Central Bank of Nigeria is step in the right direction. This must be monitored for transparency, to ensure beneficiaries merit the award based on set guidelines. Another way of boosting healthcare innovative research is by establishing a special funding platform code-named Healthcare Research Trustfund (HeRFund, a replica of the Tertiary Education Trustfund (TETFund) as proposed earlier by a Jos-based virologist, Dr Solomon Chollom. He asserted that the massive development in physical and human resources in the educational sector due to interventions from TETFund would be replicated in healtcare research once HerFund is established
The African continent must come together and harness the necessary resources that are required. It is only when this is done that the continent can find its footing in scientific breakthroughs and stay on the side of positive history in healthcare inventions. Unless this done, the development of a COVID-19 vaccine and other products by Africans, for Africans and other continents of the world, would continue to remain an enigma.
Edited by Rachael Abujah
