Musings From Abroad

First shipment of GSK’s Mosquirix malaria vaccine reaches Cameroon

Published

12 months ago

November 23, 2023

Cameroon has taken custody of its first shipment of Mosquirix malaria vaccines manufactured by British drugmaker, GSK Plc.

Following trial programmes in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi, a batch of 331,200 doses of the vaccine—also known as RTS, S—was offloaded at Yaounde’s Nsimalen International Airport, making Cameroon one of the first nations in Africa to receive the shot.

Cameroon’s health minister, Manaouda Malachie announced that 42 of the 203 health districts in the nation would receive the first shipment of vaccines.

“We lose many compatriots who die because of this disease. Today, we have a vaccine which comes to add to the panoply of measures already rolled out,” Malachie told reporters at Nsimalen.

According to GSK, the vaccine has already been administered to over 1.7 million children in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi, and will begin to be administered in nine more malaria-endemic nations, including Cameroon. In a joint statement with WHO and UNICEF, the global vaccine alliance, GAVI announced that an additional 1.7 million doses of the RTS,S vaccine were anticipated to arrive in Burkina Faso, Liberia, Niger, and Sierra Leone in the upcoming weeks.

By 2026, 40–60 million doses of the malaria vaccine will be required annually, and by 2030, 80–100 million doses will be required, according to estimates from the WHO, UNICEF, and Gavi.

Malaria is a disease caused by a parasite. The parasite is spread to humans through the bites of infected mosquitoes. In 2021, 96 percent of the world’s malaria deaths occurred in Africa.

Related Topics:Featured GSK Malaria VACCINE

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Musings From Abroad

Nigeria, India to strengthen counterterrorism, maritime security cooperation

Published

22 hours ago

November 18, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

During a state visit to Nigeria on Sunday, Indian Prime Minister, Narendra, Modi reached an agreement, on behalf of his country, to strengthen cooperation in counterterrorism, intelligence, and maritime security.

President Bola Tinubu invited Modi to visit Nigeria, the first Indian prime minister to do so in 17 years.

Tinubu is looking for investments from some of the largest economies in the world.

In addition to discussing economic development, defence, healthcare, and food security, Modi and Tinubu met at the presidential mansion on Sunday after arriving in the capital, Abuja, on Saturday night, according to a joint statement.

The two nations decided to work together to protect maritime trade routes and fight piracy in response to the mounting risks in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Guinea.

The most populous country in Africa, Nigeria, is looking to attract more Indian investment and lower-cost credit lines in order to strengthen its economy and generate employment.

Nigeria announced last year that it had obtained about $14 billion in pledges from Indian businesses, including Jindal Steel and Power, which promised to spend $3 billion in Nigeria’s steel industry, during the G20 conference.

Over 200 Indian businesses are present in Nigeria.

Modi was scheduled to go to Brazil for this year’s G20 conference after Nigeria.

Nigeria and India have a long-standing and cordial bilateral relationship. Nigeria, home to more than 200 million people, and India, home to 1.3 billion people, are both sizable emerging nations with multilingual, multiethnic, and multireligious communities.

Musings From Abroad

Military advisors from Russia arrive Equatorial Guinea

Published

2 days ago

November 17, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Russian military advisors are in Equatorial Guinea training indigenous soldiers.

Anonymous sources cited by Reuters during the week claim that between 100 and 200 Russian instructors are training with elite guards in charge of guarding the President and the first family.

The males had been seen in Malabo, the country’s capital, and Bata, its second city. Reports of Russian forces stationed in the nation initially appeared in August.

Oil-rich Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has maintained close relations with Moscow.

Nguema travelled to Moscow in September to attend the Russian Energy Week International Forum.

Russia has strengthened military connections with African countries, sending advisors and combat soldiers to the Central African Republic, Mozambique, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso.

Faced with an Islamist terrorist insurrection, three Sahel countries have turned to Moscow for support, expelling French and American troops.