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Experts, CSOs Discuss Vaccine Production In Africa (LIVE UPDATES)
Eruemolor January 15, 2022

Experts, CSOs Discuss Vaccine Production In Africa (LIVE UPDATES)

A symposium to discuss immunisation and investment in vaccine production in Africa holds today in Abuja.

Health experts, government officials, civil society organisations, and international partners are expected to be present during the one-day high-level event with the theme; “Equitable Vaccines Access: Resilient Communities.”

The symposium is organised by the West African Institute of Public Health (WAIPH) with support of the Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health @scale (PACFaH@Scale/PAS) and other partners to mark the African Vaccine Week (AVW).

AVW is an annual event celebrated during the last of week of April with the aim of promoting the use of vaccines to protect Africans from preventable diseases.

The organisers said the event is aimed at finding solutions to challenges of vaccine production and supply chain situation in the region. The event will also touch on issues around vaccine hesitancy and poor awareness affecting vaccine acceptance in many parts of Africa.

Africa, a continent of over 1.2 billion people and 54 countries produces only one per cent of vaccines it administers. This is even as the continent accounts for large percentage of deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases.

This situation made the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention launch a partnership for African vaccine manufacturing in April 2021. The partnership aims to build capacity across the continent so that by 2040, at least 60 per cent of all vaccines used in the region will be produced in African nations.

Today’s symposium promises to track progress made in vaccine manufacturing and production across the continent.

The events also presents opportunities for participants to look at the partnerships by African governments and CSOs in advancing indigenous vaccine production in Africa.

3:07p.m: Event closes.
3:05p.m: Mr Ohanyido said the symposium marked the beginning of advocacy towards advancement of vaccine production and distribution in Nigeria.
3:03p.m: Francis Ohanyido, the director-general of WAIPH, gives closing remarks and vote of thanks. He thanked Messrs Tomori and Nasidi for driving the course of public health advocacy in Nigeria. He also appreciated other speakers, the media and participants in attendance.

2:59p.m: Closing remarks

2:36p.m: In summary, Abdulsalami Nasidi, the pioneer director of NCDC, said there is a need for Nigeria to learn from experiences and failures of the past in terms of vaccine production. Mr Nasidi, a professor, also said the Nigerian government should learn how to imbibe continuity in implementation of plans. “We need to learn how to always continue from where a previous government stopped.”
2: 35p.m: He said adaptive leadership, motivation and accountability is needed in policy creation and enforcement.
2:34p.m: He blamed the failure on conflict of personal interest of those involved in developing the centre. “That is where national interest comes in. We need to be patriotic and think less of personal interest when we are striving to achieve something for national goal”, the virologist said.
2:30 p.m: Mr Tomori, a professor, said the plan failed because there was little commitment to the goal. He explained that administrative bureaucracy played a role in the demise of the Yaba vaccine production programme. The professor also gave a brief history on the establishment of the Yaba vaccine centre.
2: 28 p.m: The lead facilitator, Aanu Rotimi, asks Mr Tomori, a virologist, to explain why the establishment of the vaccine centre in Yaba Lagos failed despite years of investment.

2:19p.m: Question and Answer session:

2:13p.m: Ms Aribo said while engaging with lawmakers, there is need to also engage the executive arm of government to further vaccine manufacturing.
2:12 p.m: She said before engaging with legislators for vaccine production and distribution, there is a need to review the system already on ground and then “send a revision paper on where we are and where we want to be”.
2:11 p.m: Ms Aribo said her organisation played an important role in the addition of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) on the health budget for the first time in 2018. The official said stakeholders engagement played a vital role in the eradication of polio through mass immunisation.
2: 08 p.m: She also explained that her organisation engages with the legislators. “We also work with other CSOs and media. We scope the landscape to fish out relevant stakeholders to pool them into a meeting where the legislators can be engaged on relevant health issues.”

2:05 p.m: Juliana Aribo, the national team lead for the Legislative Initiative for Sustainable Development (LISDEL), speaks on the role of Nigeria’s parliament towards advancement of vaccine production. She explains how her organisation is galvanizing support for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by mapping the legislators as the relevant stakeholders.

 

By Nike Adebowale and Ebuka Onyeji

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/health/health-interviews/526205-experts-csos-discuss-vaccine-production-in-africa-live-updates.html

 

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