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Tag: WHO

  • Nigeria reaches milestone in race for deployment of 5G networks

    Nigeria reaches milestone in race for deployment of 5G networks

    Nigeria has reached a milestone, joining the United States of America (USA), the United Kingdom (UK) and a handful of other countries in the race for the deployment of 5G networks.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports this is as the Federal Executive Council (FEC), the highest decision making organ of the country, has approved the National Policy on Fifth Generation (5G) Networks for the nation.

    The 5G Policy was approved at the Council meeting on Wednesday, following a presentation made by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami.

    The implementation of the National Policy is with immediate effect, TNG learnt.

    TNG gathers that the National Policy has been developed over a period of 2 years, due to the need for extensive stakeholder engagement and the need to ensure adequate public awareness and sensitization.

    Meanwhile, according to a statement by Dr Femi Adeluyi, Technical Assistant on Information Technology to Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, the stakeholder engagement was thorough and multi-sectoral in nature.

    “It also took into account the report of the 3-month 5G trials that commenced on the 25th of November 2019.

    “The report critically reviewed and studied the health and security implications of deploying 5G in Nigeria.

    Leading international organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), an organ of the United Nations, have confirmed that the deployment of 5G networks leave no adverse health effect and are safe,” the statement reads.

    TNG reports 5G networks offer significant advantages over current technologies.

    Some of its advantages include much lower latency, higher bandwidth, greater device density, longer battery life for nodes and greater network flexibility.

    Several countries have already commenced the deployment of 5G and are enjoying its benefits.

    These countries include the United States, United Kingdom, Republic of Korea, South Africa and Lesotho, to mention but a few.

    The National Frequency Management Council (NFMC), chaired by Minister Pantami, will soon release spectrum to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) that meet all the required conditions.

    The NCC, as the regulator of the telecommunications sector, will continue engaging stakeholders with a view to developing the regulatory instruments required for the successful deployment of the technology in Nigeria.

  • NCDC DG Chikwe Ihekweazu appointed Assistant DG of WHO

    NCDC DG Chikwe Ihekweazu appointed Assistant DG of WHO

    The Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, has been appointed as the Assistant Director General of Health Emergency Intelligence at the World Health Organisation (WHO).

    Ihekweazu’s appointment – which comes into effect on November 1, 2021 – was disclosed in a letter signed by the WHO Director General, Tedros Ghebreyesus.

    “I am pleased to welcome Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu as an Assistant Director-General for Health Emergency Intelligence from November 1, 2021.

    “He will lead the work on strengthening pandemic and epidemic intelligence globally, including heading the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin.

    “Dr Ihekweazu is currently the Director-General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. He was trained as an infectious disease epidemiologist, has over 20 years of experience working in senior public health and leadership positions in several National Public Health Institutes, including the South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases, the United Kingdom’s Health Protection Agency, and Germany’s Robert Koch Institute.

    “He has led several short-term engagements for WHO, mainly in response to major infectious disease outbreaks around the world.

    “Dr Ihekweazu, a Nigerian national, who was born in Germany, is a graduate of the College of Medicine, University of Nigeria and has a Masters in Public Health from the Heinrich-Heine University, Dusseldorf, Germany. In 2003, he was awarded a Fellowship for the European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training and subsequently completed his Public Health specialization in the United Kingdom.

    “He is widely published in medical peer-reviewed journals,” Ghebreyesus’ statement partly read.

    Sources in the NCDC also confirmed the development and disclosed that the inauguration of the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence is expected to take place later on Wednesday (today).

    Dr Ihekweazu is expected to partake in a panel session at the ceremony, even as the hub seeks to bring together partners worldwide to collaborate and create tools and data needed for countries to prepare, detect and respond to pandemic and epidemic risks.

    This special event will also include a ceremony to recognize Chancellor Angela Merkel’s outstanding leadership in global public health.

  • NAFDAC makes move against aggressive marketing of breast-milk substitutes

    NAFDAC makes move against aggressive marketing of breast-milk substitutes

    The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Wednesday unveiled documents to support compliance to breastfeeding code implementation and Breast Milk Substitutes (BMS) regulations in the country.

    The unveiling ceremony was done in Abuja at the 40th Anniversary of the International Code of marketing of the BMS in Nigeria with the theme “Implementing the BMS Code in Nigeria: Progress, Challenges and Opportunities”.

    The Director General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said that the BMS Code was an international health policy framework for breastfeeding protection and promotion adopted by the 3rd and 4th of the World Health Assembly (WHA) in 1981.

    Represented by her Special Assistant, Mr Gbenga Fajemirokun, the director general said that the Code was developed as a public health strategy.

    She added that it was aimed at contributing to the provision of safe and adequate nutrition for infants by protecting and promoting breastfeeding and to ensure proper use of breast-milk substitutes only when they were necessary.

    Adeyeye said that the code was to protect mothers from aggressive marketing of breast-milk substitutes.

    She further said that the code was also to ensure safe feeding and better nutrition for infants and young children as the provision of the code recommended restrictions on marketing of BMS.

    She added that “Nigeria, a member of the World Health Organisation (WHO) voted for code adoption in 1981 and is expected to implement all its provisions in the entirety as a minimum requirement and to translate it into national legislation, regulations and other suitable measures.

    “As a country, Nigeria takes her international and national obligations very serious which is why the provisions of CAP M5 Marketing BMS Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 as amended by Decree 22 of 1999.

    “This Act designated NAFDAC as the regulatory agency to implement, monitor and enforce the code in Nigeria.

    “It is our collective desire as NAFDAC, the agency designated to implement and enforce this code compliance in Nigeria, to work collaboratively with all stakeholders and partners.

    “To contribute to achieving safe and adequate nutrition for our infants through protection and promotion of breastfeeding.”

    The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said that the ministry remained committed to improve survival of children, especially the ones under the age of five-year and maternal child care through various policies that would promote healthy living.

    Represented by Dr Anas Kolo, the Director of Family Health in the ministry, said that the ministry had gone ahead to promote baby friendly hospital initiative.

    Ehanire maintained that the ministry would continue to promote exclusive breastfeeding and other initiatives in the same direction.

    The minister, therefore, encouraged mothers to continue to breastfeed their babies in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that support mechanisms were on the way to encourage mothers.

    In his goodwill message, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Sen. Ibrahim Oloriegbe, said that discussions were on at the National Assembly to permit mothers to embark on six months maternity leave after delivery.

    He added that this would also support exclusive breastfeeding.

    Oloriegbe noted that Nigeria had not achieved its target as far as exclusive breastfeeding was concerned, adding that the environment had not been friendly to achieve that.

    “We must promote friendly environment for this initiative, a lot must be done to encourage this to meet our target,” he said.

    Mr Sheriff Olagunju, the NAFDAC Director of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said the implementation of BMS Code had earned the country improved rating in the 2020 International Code Status Report.

    He added that NAFDAC would not rest on its oars to continue to enforce the code.

    “The BMS Code spelt out roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders in ensuring that breastfeeding is promoted, supported, and protected by implementing the provisions of the BMS Code and subsequent relevant WHA resolutions in its entirety.

    “These stakeholders include but not limited to the government, policy makers, healthcare workers, healthcare system, the media, mothers and their families, development partners, Non-Governmental Organisations and Civil Society Organisations.

    “The importance of breastfeeding is also evident in its significantly positive impact on our planet.

    “This is because breast-milk is a natural and renewable food which requires no preparation, no packaging, no storage and no transportation.

    “The earth benefits when women are encouraged to breastfeed their infants and young children, therefore, the enabling environment must be created by the society at large for this to happen,” Olagunju said.

  • COVID-19 infections rise for four consecutive weeks globally- WHO

    COVID-19 infections rise for four consecutive weeks globally- WHO

    COVID-19 infections have continued to rise globally for more than a month now, with over four million cases reported in the past week alone, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.

    The UN health agency, in its latest update on Wednesday, attributed the uptick to “substantial” caseload increases of 33 per cent in the Western Pacific and 37 per cent in the Eastern Mediterranean – where coronavirus fatalities also rose 48 and 31 per cent, respectively.

    The number of deaths in the four remaining WHO regions of Africa, Americas, Europe and South-East Asia was in keeping with previous weeks, apart from the Americas, which dropped 29 per cent.

    Africa and Europe witnessed a two per cent decrease in COVID-19 deaths, while South-East Asia registered a three per cent increase, according to WHO’s COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update.

    Overall, the total number of reported cases is around 197 million and with 4.2 million deaths worldwide. Ranked by country, the United States topped the number of new infections over the past week, with 543,420 new cases, a nine per cent jump, followed by India, which had 283,923 new cases and a seven per cent increase.

    Indonesia had 273,891 new cases, followed by Brazil’s 247,830 and Iran’s 206,722 new infections.

    While Alpha variant infections have been reported in 182 countries, the Delta variant has been confirmed in three new countries, infecting a total of 135 nations.

    By region, WHO said that Africa – now in the grip of its third coronavirus wave – had reported similar numbers of weekly cases and deaths as the previous seven-day period, with just over 182,000 new cases and more than 4,800 new deaths.

    Nonetheless, the UN agency explained that the overall regional decrease in confirmed weekly infections and deaths on the continent since the middle of July is still being driven by falling numbers in South Africa, which dwarfed the 13,268 new cases in Mozambique over the past seven-day period.

    In the Americas, where there have been more than 1.2 million new infections and over 20,000 COVID-19 deaths in the past week and WHO noted an increase in Mexico, which had 80.1 new cases per 100,000.

    Brazil experienced 7,120 fatalities, making it the highest numbers of deaths in the region, followed by Mexico with 2,502 deaths and 2,455 in the United States.

    In the Eastern Mediterranean, as increase in cases and deaths were mainly driven by Iran, where new infections were rose to more than 206,000; Iraq with 83,098 cases; and Morocco, which witnessed 48,366 new cases.

    After more than a month of increases in COVID-19 infections and deaths, Europe saw a drop in weekly cases – driven by decreases in Spain and the UK.

    However, at just over 8,000, the death toll in Europe was similar to the previous week, driven by 5,478 new fatalities in Russia, 524 in the UK and 453 in Turkey’.

    With 187,268 confirmed cases, UK ranked highest in new infections followed by Russia, with 162,136, and Turkey, which registered 139,667new COVID-19 infections.

    While the number of weekly deaths remained stable, at 22,000 in South-East Asia, new infections topped 841,000.

    In addition to an increase in India, Indonesia saw 273,891 new cases while Thailand registered more than 118,000 new infections. These three countries accounted for 80 per cent of new cases reported in the region.

    The highest numbers of new deaths in South-East Asia were in Indonesia (12,444 fatalities) followed by India (3,800) and then Myanmar (2,620).

    In the Western Pacific, WHO reported that Japan and Malaysia drove a spike in infections while attributing an increase in deaths largely to Malaysia (1,122 new deaths) and Viet Nam, 936

  • How Delta variant increased COVID-19 deaths by 80% in Africa — WHO

    How Delta variant increased COVID-19 deaths by 80% in Africa — WHO

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) says COVID-19 deaths have increased by 80 per cent in the past one month in Africa, mostly driven by the highly-transmissible Delta variant.

    The Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said on Friday at his regular COVID-19 briefing that the Delta variant had been detected in at least 132 countries.

    Ghebreyesus said almost four million cases worldwide were reported last week to WHO and the agency expected the total number of cases to pass 200 million in the next two weeks.

    “And we know this is an underestimate.

    “Infections have increased in every region of the world, with some even reaching 80 per cent more in the past month. In Africa, deaths have increased by 80 per cent over the same period,’’ the official warned.

    The director-general blamed the rise of cases on increased social mixing and mobility, the inconsistent use of public health and social measures, and inequitable vaccine use.

    He said “hard-won gains” were in jeopardy or being lost, and health systems in many countries were increasingly overwhelmed.

    “WHO has warned that the COVID-19 virus has been changing since it was first reported, and it continues to change. So far, four variants of concern have emerged, and there will be more as long as the virus continues to spread.’’

    In June, the WHO chief announced the setting up of a technology transfer hub for mRNA vaccines in South Africa as part of WHO’s efforts to scale up production of vaccines and their distribution in Africa.

    “Today, we have taken another step forward, with a letter of intent that sets out the terms of collaboration signed by the partners in the hub.

    “WHO: the Medicines Patent Pool, Afrigen Biologics; the Biologicals and Vaccines Institute of Southern Africa; the South African Medical Research Council and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention,” he explained.

    According to him, WHO’s goal remains to aid every country in vaccinating at least 10 per cent of its population by the end of September.

    “At least, 40 per cent by the end of this year, and 70 per cent by the middle of next year.

    “We are a long way off achieving those targets. So far, just over half of countries have fully vaccinated 10 per cent of their population, less than a quarter of countries have vaccinated 40 per cent, and only three countries have vaccinated 70 per cent.”

    The WHO head reminded that the global distribution of vaccines remains unjust, in spite expert warnings and appeals, and said that all regions remain at risk, “none more so, than Africa”.

    “On current trends, nearly 70 per cent of African countries will not reach the 10 per cent vaccination target by the end of September,” he cautioned.

    Ghebreyesus also announced that on response to the Delta surge, the WHO’s Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator was inaugurating the Rapid ACT-Accelerator Delta Response, or RADAR, and issuing an urgent call for 7.7 billion U.S. dollars for tests, treatments and vaccine.

    Lead WHO epidemiologist and COVID-19 technical lead, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, explained that the Delta variant had certain mutations that allow the virus to adhere to human cells more easily and that experts were also seeing a higher viral load in individuals infected.

    She called Delta “dangerous and the most transmissible SARS-CoV-2 virus to date,” adding “there are some laboratory studies that suggest that there’s increase replication in some of the modelled human airway systems.

    In terms of severity, Kerkhove highlighted that there had6 been an increase in hospitalisations in certain countries affected by the variant, “but we haven’t yet seen an increase in mortality”.

    According to the WHO expert, there is some data that suggest that people vaccinated can get infected and transmit the variant, the likelihood is much reduced after the second dose has been administered and reached full effectiveness.

    She also clarified that Delta was not specifically targeting children as some reports had suggested, but warned that as long as the variants were circulating, they would infect anybody that was not taking proper precautions.

    “Its in the virus’s interests to evolve, viruses are not alive they don’t have a brain to think through this, but they become more fit the more they circulate, so the virus will likely become even more transmissible because this is what viruses do, they evolve they change overtime.

    “We have to do what we can to drive it down”, she added, reminding that public health and social measures do work against the Delta variant, and that the vaccines do prevent disease and death.”

    Dr Michael Ryan, the Executive Director of WHO Health Emergencies, said that even with the virus getting “faster and fitter” the game plan does not change, but it needs to be implemented more efficiently.

    “Delta is a warning that this virus is evolving, but it is also a call to action before more dangerous variants emerge,” he said.

  • WHO predicts more COVID-19 deaths by the end of 2020 Olympics

    WHO predicts more COVID-19 deaths by the end of 2020 Olympics

    The World Health Organization (WHO) has predicted 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 by the end of the Tokyo Olympics.

    The Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, started today after a delay a year ago due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

    The number of COVID-19 cases in Japan linked to the Games now stands at 79, NAN reports.

    World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus advised the public not to disregard that the Covid-19 pandemic is still plaguing the world and an event like this could be a super spreader.

    “By the time the Olympic flame is extinguished on the 8th of August, more than 100,000 more people will perish,” Tedros, said on Wednesday in Tokyo.

    He warned that “the pandemic is a test, and the world is failing.

    The WHO chief stressed that anyone who thinks the Coronavirus pandemic is over is living in a “fool’s paradise.”

    There has been a surge in COVID-19 cases continue in Japan. Tokyo on Wednesday reported its highest daily increase of new infections since mid-January.

  • COVID-19: World in early stages of third wave amid Delta surge – WHO

    COVID-19: World in early stages of third wave amid Delta surge – WHO

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that the spread of COVID-19’s Delta variant, along with increased social mobility and the inconsistent use of proven public health measures was driving increases in both case numbers and deaths.

    WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus stated this on Wednesday in remarks to the 8th meeting of the Emergency Committee on COVID-19, established under International Health Regulations (IHR), a treaty that guides global response to public health risks.

    In the speech posted on WHO website, the director-general recalled the sustained decline in COVID-19 cases and deaths in recent months, driven largely by increasing vaccination rates in Europe and North America, but sounded alarms over the fresh reversal of that positive trend.

    “Unfortunately…we are now in the early stages of a third wave,” he said.

    Last week marked the fourth consecutive week of rising cases of COVID-19 globally, with increases recorded in all but one of WHO’s six regions. Deaths are also rising again, after 10 weeks of steady decline.

    Meanwhile, the director-general said the virus was continuing to evolve, resulting in more transmissible variants.

    “The Delta variant is now in more than 111 countries and we expect it to soon be the dominant COVID-19 strain circulating worldwide, if it isn’t already,” The UN correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quotes Ghebreyesus as saying.

    The spread of the Delta variant – one of the main drivers of the current increase in transmission – was also being fuelled by increased social mobility and the inconsistent use of proven public health and social measures.

    He drew the Committee’s attention to the ongoing “shocking disparity” in the global distribution of vaccines, as well as unequal access to life-saving tools, reiterating his concern that inequity had created a two-track pandemic.

    According to him, one track for countries with the greatest access to vaccines, who are lifting restrictions and reopening their societies, and a second track for those without vaccine access, who are left at the mercy of the virus.

    “Many countries still have not received any vaccines, and most have not received enough.

    In that context, the director-general reiterated WHO’s appeal for a massive push to vaccinate at least 10 per cent of the population of every country by September, at least 40 per cent by the end of 2021, and at least 70 per cent by mid-2022.

    Emphasising that vaccines alone will not stop the pandemic, he called on countries to persist with a “tailored and consistent approach.”

    That means using the full array of available public health and social measures and taking a comprehensive risk management approach to mass gatherings.

    “So many countries around the world have shown that this virus can be stopped and contained with these measures,” he stressed.

    To provide support, WHO recently issued updated guidance to facilitate a risk-based approach for opening.

    The Agency is also reviewing options to digitalise the International Certificate for Vaccination and Prophylaxis, to support a harmonised approach for recording vaccination status. (NAN)

  • Delta COVID-19 variant spreading fast, now present in 104 countries – WHO warns

    Delta COVID-19 variant spreading fast, now present in 104 countries – WHO warns

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that the COVID-19 Delta variant was ripping around the world at a scorching pace, driving a new spike in cases and deaths from COVID-19.

    WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said this at a media briefing on COVID-19 on Monday at WHO headquarters in Geneva.

    In his speech posted on WHO website, the director-general said last week marked the fourth consecutive week of increasing cases of COVID-19 globally, with increases recorded in all but one of WHO’s six regions.

    He said after 10 weeks of declines, deaths were increasing again such that “the Delta variant is ripping around the world at a scorching pace, driving a new spike in cases and death.

    “Not everywhere is taking the same hit though, we’re in the midst of a growing two-track pandemic where the haves and have-nots within and between countries are increasingly divergent.

    “In places with high vaccination coverage, Delta is spreading quickly; especially infecting unprotected and vulnerable people and steadily putting pressure back on health systems,’’ he said.

    He added that in low-income countries, exhausted health workers were battling to save lives among shortages of personal protective equipment, oxygen and treatments.

    Ghebreyesus explained that vaccines had never been the way out of the crisis on their own, but the current wave is demonstrating what a “powerful tool they are”.

    “We are experiencing a worsening public health emergency that further threatens lives, livelihoods and a sound global economic recovery.

    “It is definitely worse in places that have very few vaccines, but the pandemic is not over, anywhere,” he added.

    The WHO’s head reiterated that the global gap in vaccine supply was hugely uneven and inequitable.

    “Some countries and regions are actually ordering millions of booster doses, before other countries have had supplies to vaccinate their health workers and most vulnerable,” he said.

    He added that data had shown vaccination offered long lasting immunity against severe and deadly COVID-19, and instead of Moderna and Pfizer prioritising the supply of vaccines as boosters to countries whose populations have relatively high coverage.

    Ghebreyesus appealed to those countries to channel supply to the COVAX global initiative, the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team, and low-middle income countries, while tens of millions of donations of shots were starting to come through.

    “The whole world is sick and tired, and everyone wants to open up and ending the pandemic is key; when we have a pandemic everywhere, the virus will continue to circulate”, the UN correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted the WHO DG as saying.

    He also said it was “extremely disappointing” to see countries that had vaccinated most of their population with two doses, thinking about a third. “It actually makes no sense,” he said.

    The director-general also explained that vaccine sharing does not necessarily mean giving vaccines for free.

    “I have a list of countries that say they have money, they can pay, but there are no vaccines. The world has the means to increase production quickly, what we lack is global leadership,” he added.

    The WHO director-general reiterated that pharmaceutical companies must share their licenses, know-how and technology.

    “Do what AstraZeneca is doing” he said, which started in Europe but has production in India, Korea, Australia and Japan, with more expansion planned, explaining that this gives COVAX the green light to buy vaccines from additional facilities”.

    Ann Lindstrand, WHO COVAX co-lead, explained that currently there wasn’t enough evidence pointing to a need for booster doses.

    “If you have a full course of vaccination of any of the WHO approved vaccines, you have a good protection,” she explained.

    WHO Chief scientist, Dr Soumiya Swaminathan, also said that while there had been an increase of infections in vaccinated populations, there had not been more hospitalisations.

    “There are reports coming in that vaccinated populations are having cases of infection, particularly Delta, but the majority of them are mild. The people in the hospitals are unvaccinated,” she explained.

    Swaminathan reminded that decisions about booster doses should be made based on data and not “on companies saying we need a third dose”.

  • COVID-19 Delta variant in 98 countries, continues to mutate, WHO warns

    COVID-19 Delta variant in 98 countries, continues to mutate, WHO warns

    World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, on Friday, urged leaders to push back against the daunting new COVID-19 surges, with increased vaccination efforts and public health measures.

    Ghebreyesus warned that with Delta variant was quickly becoming the dominant strain in many countries, saying: “we are in a very dangerous period of the pandemic’’

    “In those countries with low COVID-19 vaccination coverage, terrible scenes of hospitals overflowing are again becoming the norm. But no country is out of the woods yet,” said Ghebreyesus, at his bi-weekly press conference.

    The director-general explained that the Delta variant was ‘dangerous’ and continued to evolve and mutate, and thus requiring constant evaluation and careful adjustment of the public health response.

    “Delta has been detected in at least 98 countries and is spreading quickly in countries with low and high vaccination coverage,” he warned.

    In addition, the WHO chief explained that there were essentially two ways for countries to push back against the new COVID-19 surges.

    “Public health and social measures like strong surveillance, strategic testing, early case detection, isolation and clinical care remain critical.

    “As well as masking, physical distance, avoiding crowded places and keeping indoor areas well ventilated,” he said.

    The second way, said the director-general, was through the global sharing of protective gear, oxygen, tests, treatments and vaccines.

    “I have urged leaders across the world to work together to ensure that by this time next year, 70 per cent of all people in every country are vaccinated.

    “This is the best way to slow the pandemic, save lives, drive a truly global economic recovery and prevent further dangerous variants from getting the upper hand.

    “WHO is calling on leaders to vaccinate at least 10 per cent of people as soon as possible, in all countries, to ensure that health workers and those most at risk are protected.’’

    According to him, ensuring this would effectively end the acute stage of the pandemic and save a significant number of lives.

    “It’s a challenge but we know it’s possible because already three billion vaccines have been distributed.

    “It is within the collective power of a few countries to step up and ensure that vaccines are shared, manufacturing is increased and that the funds are in places to purchase the tools needed.”

    Answering journalists’ questions, WHO’s technical leader for COVID-19 response, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, reminded that the virus had been evolving since it first emerged.

    “It is what viruses do. The variants of concern that we are tracking are currently four: Alpha, Beta, Gama and Delta.

    “They will continue to evolve: there will be more mutations, there will be more variants detected, and some of those will be variants of concern,” she said.

    The UN correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted Kerkhove as saying that there were now ‘sub lineages’ of the Delta variant that experts were currently tracking and countries would do well to expand their genomic sequencing efforts.

  • Nigeria ready for health emergency – Mamora

    Nigeria ready for health emergency – Mamora

    The Federal Government has restated its commitment to invest in health security to enhance the country’s preparedness against future pandemics.

    Dr Olorunnimbe Mamora, Minister of State for Health, gave the assurance on Thursday during a webinar organised by The Conversation Africa.

    The webinar was themed: ‘Nigeria and the next pandemic: Preparedness, Response, and Vaccine.’

    Mamora said that the government had started to implement steps through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund where the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control would be provided with 2.5 per cent of the fund for health emergencies.

    He noted that COVID-19 had devastating effects on many countries as it affected lives, economy, travels and social interactions; necessitating a redirection of health resources to fight the pandemic.

    “The world would be a better place if we invest in pandemic preparedness, thereby utilising these disruptions to build more sustainable and resilient health systems in Nigeria,” he said.

    The minister noted that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had estimated that the world would face a pandemic threat every five years.

    He said that the country must be better prepared against future pandemics.

    Mamora, however, pointed out that the world had been faced with a huge challenge of inequitable vaccine distribution, with Africa bearing the brunt of it.

    He noted that while countries in Europe had vaccinated about 50 per cent of their population, Africa had only done about one per and currently faced with a vaccine shortage.

    “The pandemic has created a sense of urgency around vaccine development and manufacturing in the African region.

    “In Nigeria, we are taking advantage of this opportunity to fully establish our capacity for vaccine manufacturing.

    ‘We’ve been working closely with Bio Vaccines Limited, a joint venture between the Federal Government and May and Baker Nig. Ltd.

    “We are strongly aligned with the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa-CDC) target that by 2040, Africa should move from manufacturing one per cent of its vaccines to 60 per cent,” he said.

    According to the minister, Nigeria has the market size and commitment required to actualise the target.

    Also, Dr Doyin Odubanjo, Secretary of the Nigerian Academy of Science, said that to achieve local vaccine production, policymakers should collaborate more with researchers.

    He advised that the issues of distrust should be removed toward building interdependence that would advance the country’s health sector and development.

    Similarly, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, Professor of Medical Microbiology, said the gaps in the health and education systems needed to be bridged to enhance the country’s preparedness against the next pandemic.

    Ogunsola called for long-term and sustainable funding of research projects and innovations to position the country strategically to fight pandemics.

    Prof. Oyewale Tomori, a virologist, however, noted that the country might not be fully prepared to fight the next pandemic if it forgot lessons learnt during the COVID-19 quickly.

    Tomori said the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic had made it difficult for the country to find lasting solutions to Lassa fever, cholera, meningitis, among other epidemics in the country.