Ned Nwoko Calls For Greater Focus On Malaria Vaccine

In the quest to tackle malaria in Africa, a former lawmaker and philanthropist, Ned Nwoko, has stressed the need for greater focus on malaria vaccine in the public-private sector, including multilateral agencies.

Nwoko made the call on Wednesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

"It is imperative to tackle the menace of malaria in Africa by investing heavily in vaccine research, adding that his foundation had done a lot in that aspect.

”We have been engaging professors and some scientists within Nigeria and outside Nigeria, funding such research. We must work towards discovering vaccines for malaria.

“There are vaccines for almost every other ailment, for instance, chicken pox, so why not malaria and what causes malaria? Is it not mosquitoes?” he said.

He said that mosquitoes breed in very dirty environments, adding that there is a need to understand that “if we have a clean environment, there will be fewer mosquitoes.”

According to him, malaria can be eliminated by managing waste properly, adding that waste management is critical to the eradication of malaria in Africa and Nigeria in particular.

He said that all wastes from homes, streets, and offices have to be properly disposed of and that there must be recycling centres in every area and every part of Nigeria.

“I am proposing recycling plants in every senatorial district in the country, there are 109 senatorial districts in Nigeria.

“Those plants will have three functions. The first one is the recycling of basic items like papers, plastic, bottles and everything else recyclable.

 "You can imagine the number of jobs that can be created from that alone, from the collection to the recycling plant."