More than a decade after its former plan stalled, Nigeria has again, begun new plans to develop a vaccine against HIV/AIDS.
?The Director-General, National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Prof John Idoko, said that though preventive vaccines were the ultimate tool to end the HIV pandemic,? the country’s first HIV vaccine plan in 2001 did not make any progress due to poor road map and non implementation.
?The NACA DG who disclosed this, yesterday, in Abuja during the National HIV Vaccine Plan Development Workshop, told stakeholders that this second chance at making plans for HIV vaccine should be realistic, implementable and something that could be advocated for in terms of funding.
?He noted, “Unlike treatment with antiretroviral drugs, currently estimated for 500,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, a vaccine is still very far off. Since the first plan for a vaccine flopped in 2001, HIV prevalence has dragged from 5.8 percent to 4.1 percent in 2010.”
?He disclosed that about half a million people living with HIV/ AIDS are estimated to be on drugs but at least a million more people need the drugs.
“This latest workshop in Abuja considering Nigeria’s plan for a vaccine against HIV/AIDS comes at a most appropriate time which will need to focus on implementing the plan once it is outlined,” he said.
?Speaking further, Idoko said that any HIV vaccine plan would consider integrating vaccine research and development in Nigeria’s anti-HIV stance, as well as how to monitor and regulate research in the field under the auspices of the African AIDS Vaccine Partnership.
“Nigeria must get in to the research now and avoid the failures that have stalled efforts to deal with hepatitis B in the past. We cannot afford not to be part of the global initiative because the number of subtypes we have are numerous and we don’t have a definite answer as to whether we need a polyvalent or monovalent vaccine,” he noted.
?In his remarks, the Country Director, Walter Reed Programme, United States of America’s Department of Defence, Robbie Nelson said Nigeria’s engagement in African AIDS Vaccine Partnership (AAVP) would make it not only a recipient but an active participant in research.
?The Executive Director, African AIDS Vaccine Partnership (AAVP), Chidi Nwaneka said that the effort would require political will, clear leadership, enabling law, targeted dissemination to the right people and unimpeded funding.
?According to him, the country needed a plan that is funded with realistic action plans, and structures built in to enable it succeed.
?While advocating for deliberate protection of research funding from vagaries of the economy, Nwaneka advised that petty politics over who should bear responsibility should not come into play.