The Prince Ned Nwoko Foundation has said that a vaccine for malaria in Nigeria would be available in the next six months.
Founder of the Foundation, Prince Ned Nwoko made the disclosure over the weekend during a walk to mark World Malaria 2021 in Abuja.
He added that alongside the vaccine were issues of sanitation, fumigation and proper waste management to help in curbing the menace of malaria.
The former member of the House of Representatives from Delta State said the foundation was collaborating with multinational companies in the United States of America and the United Kingdom to produce the malaria vaccines.
According to him, over 500,000 persons died of malaria annually in Nigeria even as he bemoaned the docility of leaders in the health sector.
Billionaire Nwoko added that the Foundation will soon commence the fumigation of the entire country to rid it of mosquitoes and similar insect that transmit malaria disease.
His words, “According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) record, malaria kills over 500 lives every year. In truth this is more than COVID-19. But our leaders don’t do anything simply because they have accepted it is part of us. We must not continue this way. Malaria is not part of us. Mosquitoes are not part of us. We must get rid of both them starting with today’s walk.
“We have been doing a lot. There are four critical areas of focus in our foundation. The first one is waste management. We must manage waste across the country and in managing waste what we must do is to build recycling plants in every local government area of the country. This on its own will create not less than five million jobs in three years. We want a clean environment.
“The next part of what we are focusing on is vaccine research. Thanks to COVID, now people are focusing on vaccines. You can see within one year of COVID, western countries like America, Britain, Russia, China, they have been able to discover vaccines because corona virus is their biggest problem. They focussed on it, they invested in it and they have been able to find vaccines.
“We are also focussing on researching in vaccines for malaria. We are doing that with some companies in America and the United Kingdom. I am sure that in the next six months, we are going to hear about the vaccines for malaria. That is a longer term process. The shorter term maybe the waste management and then fumigation.
“Fumigation must take place across the country. They will be lockdown in the country for this to happen. I am not talking about mere fumigation. I am talking about fumigation that will will be done in every household. In every office. In every state. You saw how some countries were fumigated during the beginning of the corona virus beginning. That will happen here.
“It will be done also from the air. We have had an agreement with a company that will do aerial fumigation. So with me in partnership with my foundation, we will achieve this remarkable short term. It is something that is dear to me and I am sure to all of us.”
