2018 World Malaria Day: NLNG, LCCI partner towards eradicating malaria in Nigeria

Attaining a malaria-free country is a goal the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited and the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) seek to achieve in Nigeria, through support for research in order to come up with preventive measures or cure for the disease.

Although there have been considerable aid from international bodies, governments and non-governmental organisations, amongst others towards providing funds and materials to prevent the spread of the disease, no concrete efforts had, so far been made towards research.

But with the Nigeria Prize for Science, NLNG now places emphasis on scientific innovations.

And as countries across the globe on April 25 marked the World Malaria Day, NLNG in conjunction with LCCI, recognized three research works on malaria control that won The NLNG Prize for Science for 2017.

On that memorable day, the winners of the 2017 Science Prize presented their work on Malaria to members of the Medical and Pharmaceutical and Allied Service Group of LCCI.

According to World Health Organisation, WHO, malaria, a mosquito-borne parasitic infection that affects about 3.2 billion people in 95 countries, is still predominant in Africa.

But due to effective medications like chloroquine and artemisinins, malaria deaths have dropped an estimated 60 percent worldwide between 2000 and 2015. The Americas and Africa saw the greatest improvements.

Still, 216 million new cases of malaria were reported in 2016, according to the latest data available.

Most of these cases occurred in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Ivory Coast and Mozambique. And of the 445,000 people who died from the infection, about 70 percent were children under the age of 5, a report by Jackson Thomas, Erin Walker, Mark Naunton and Gregory Peterson published on Newsweek recent says.

“Malaria deaths can be cut in half with affordable solutions currently available; we can get more out of the existing medicines, tools and strategies,” Prof Olugbenga Mokuolu, one of the winners, said during his presentation.

Mokuolu and other joint winners of the prize – Chukwuma Agubata and the trio: Ikeoluwapo Ajayi, Ayodele Jegede, Bidemi Yusuf, engaged the gathering of medical and pharmaceutical representatives, and other individuals in an exciting interaction following their presentations on strategies for eradicating malaria through innovations.

The joint winning entries for the science prize are “Improving Home and Community Management of Malaria: Providing the Evidence Base” by Prof. Ikeoluwapo Ajayi, Prof. Ayodele Jegede and Dr. Bidemi Yusuf; “Multifaceted Efforts at Malaria Control in Research: Management of Malaria of Various Grades and Mapping Artemisinin Resistance” by Prof. Olugbenga Mokuolu; and “Novel lipid microparticles for effective delivery of Artemether antimalarial drug using a locally-sourced Irvingia fat from nuts of Irvingia gabonensis var excelsa (ogbono)” by Dr. Chukwuma Agubata.

In his presentation, Dr. Agubata who is of the Department of Pharmaceutical Technology and Industrial Pharmacy, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, said the aim of the study was to improve the anti-malaria efficacy artemether by formulating it as microparticles using  Irvingia fat derived from nuts of Irvingia gabonensis var excelsa (ogbono).

He listed the methods for the process to include solvent extraction of fat from nuts of Irvingia gabonensis var excelsa; characterization of lipid matrices; Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC); Wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD); and formulation of artemether lipid microparticles by hot homogenization technique.

Also presenting, Mokuolu, a professor of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Ilorin, said malaria has a tripartite composition: victim, vector and villain.

He added that fighting malaria involved the parasite, transmission and the drug.

Mokuolu who noted that there is a “magic bullet” for controlling malaria, maintained that the increase of the disease can be rolled back if health care is strengthened.

He noted the magic bullet to include: early detection, rapid treatment, multipronged interventions, well-coordinated strategy, determined research and dynamic movement.

In their joint research, Prof Ajayi, Prof Jegede and Dr. Yusuf of the University of Ibadan, averred that malaria has been a burden in Africa.

In their presentation, the group, represented by Yusuf, posited that malaria is identified as one of the leading causes of childhood morbidity and mortality in Nigeria, adding that it is responsible for many in-patient admissions and outpatient visits to health facilities.

The group identified the engagement of community health workers to be significantly important and useful in tackling malaria epidemic, especially in rural areas.

According to them, their findings showed that many mothers in remote communities have poor knowledge of effective and correct treatment of malaria among their children.

Following this poor knowledge, the group said an intervention programme was set up in the communities.

The group said development of a treatment guideline using participatory approach to help caregivers adhere to correct treatment was introduced.

They said in some of the remote communities in Oyo State where the study was carried out, many of the women were trained and certified as “mother-trainers” to implement the intervention.

They said they were trained in diagnosis and treatment of fever, trained to identify signs and symptoms, identify eligible respondents, obtain informed consent, and differentiate drugs amongst other things.

Meanwhile, speaking at the research presentation NLNG’s Communications and Public Affairs Manager, Andy Odeh, stated that the company was committed to helping find solutions to malaria, in line with its vision to help build a better Nigeria.

“For two years, we persistently featured malaria as the theme for The Nigeria Prize for Science titled “Innovations on Malaria Control”.

“There was no winner in 2016 but we were relentless in trying to contribute to the body of knowledge of scientific works that will, one day, eradicate malaria globally.

“Nigeria has taken ownership of finding this solution through the prize and we hope the search doesn’t end with the Science Prize.

“Malaria has remained one of the deadliest diseases in the country and Nigeria still records unacceptably high number of casualties hence the need to translate research to actual benefits.”

LCCI President, Mr. Babatunde Paul Rawuse  said the partnership between NLNG and LCCI was the bridge between research and reality.

Ruwase, who was represented by his deputy, Mrs. Toki Mabogunje, noted that one of the banes of scientific endeavours in the country was that scientists “end up being unsung heroes, without any real benefit to the society”.

He expressed hope that the presentation of scientific works to LCCI members would be sustained to bridge the gap.

Earlier, in his keynote address, Chairman, Advisory Board of the Nigeria Prize for Science, Professor Alfred Susu, while commending NLNG, stressed that the “winning works on Innovations in Malaria Control can be advanced by relevant stakeholders who can apply them to activate development of the society”.

He added “the subject of a malaria-free society is one that can leverage the winning works for 2017 edition of the Nigerian Prize for Science.

“It behooves on relevant industry players and stakeholders in the field to explore the possibility of commercial production of research findings and also to create avenues that promote optimum utility, thereby realizing the main reason for setting up the prize.”

He charged well-meaning Nigerians, especially industry players to encourage and aid more research works in the country by providing financial and other assistance to local scientists in order to do more applicable works that will stimulate development of the country.

Continuing the aspirations in finding solutions to Nigeria’s socio-economic problems, using the Nigerian Prize for Science, Asusu hinted that the 2018 competition for The Prize would be focusing on “Innovations in Electric Power Solutions”.

The joint Science Prize winners were in 2017 awarded a prize cash of $100,000, split evenly.

The Nigeria Prize for Science was established in 2004 by Nigeria LNG as part of its broader corporate social responsibility initiatives targeted at helping to build a better Nigeria, and comes with a cash prize $100,000.