Nigeria add malaria vaccine to routine immunisation for infants - here na wetin to know
Wia dis foto come from, Getty Images
Di Nigeria goment don announce say malaria vaccine go now follow for dia national immunisation schedule for pikin dem wey dey between five and 11 months.
Na di National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) announce dis one thru dia X handle, as dem tok say di initiative go move di kontri closer to a malaria-free future.
Last week, di goment hold di first meeting of one project wey dem call Advisory on Malaria Elimination in Nigeria (AMEN), wia di Minister for Health, Ali Pate, tok say malaria no just be health crisis for Nigeria, but also economic emergency.
Di minister say Nigeria dey lose about $1.1 billion to malaria annually, and di kontri dey account for more dan 30 percent of malaria deaths for di world.
For dia post on X, di NPHCDA say di first phase of di malaria vaccination go start dis December 2024, for Kebbi and Bayelsa states.
Di vaccine na for free
Na only two types of malaria vaccine dey available for di world. Di first na di RTS,S vaccine - wey di World Health Organisation bin approve for October 2021 - and di oda na di R21/Matrix-M vaccine wey WHO also approve by December last year.
Two months ago, GAVI, di world vaccine alliance bin donate one million doses of di R21/Matrix M vaccine give Nigeria, sake of say malaria dey high for di kontri.
Na wit dis one million doses di vaccination exercise go start, and as di kontri receive more doses, di exercise go expand to oda states, according to Muyi Aina, di Executive Director of NPHCDA
End of Di one wey oda users dey read well well
"Di second phase go target 19 states and di FCT, while di third phase go target di remaining 15 States. Both phases dey scheduled for 2025," Oga Aina tok.
During dis first phase, di malaria vaccine go dey available for free for goment primary healthcare centres for Bayelsa and Kebbi States, di NPHCDA tok.
How di R21/Matrix M Malaria vaccine dey work
According to di World Health Organisation, na scientists from di Oxford University develop dis vaccine, but di company wey dey manufacture am in big quantity na di Serum Institute of India (SII).
GAVI, di world vaccine alliance explain how dis vaccine dey work:
"Wen di anopheles mosquito wey dey carry malaria parasite bite pesin, e go send di parasite through the bloodstream, wia e go dey change shape through stages of im life cycle.
"Di complexity of di malaria parasite life cycle don hamper di development of a vaccine for years. (But) di R21/Matrix-M vaccine dey target di plasmodium 'sporozoite', wey be di first form of di malaria parasite as e enta di human body."
Results from di phase two trial of di vaccine show say "one year afta receiving a booster dose of di R21/Matrix-M vaccine, 77% of children for Africa still dey protected against mild and severe episodes of malaria", one report on GAVI website tok.
Di WHO recommend say malaria vaccines suppose dey provided to children in a schedule of 4 doses from 5 months of age or slightly earlier.
"A fifth dose fit dey considered for areas wey get significant malaria risk for children, one year afta receiving dose 4," di WHO tok.
For April 2023, Ghana become di first African kontri to approve di R21/Matrix-M vaccine, and since den, eight oda African kontris, including Nigeria, don also introduce malaria vaccine as part of dia routine childhood vaccinations.
