NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, March 17, 2014

Nigeria is better off preventing diseases than attempting cures on a continent with some of the highest disease burdens, say experts.

This comes as the first indigenous vaccine manufacturer, Innovative Vaccines, launched in Nigeria.

Virologist, Dr Simon Agwale, said, “With the upsurge of poverty in Africa, curative medicine will rather be cumbersome, and to an extent far less effective.”

Speaking at the launch in Abuja, he said Nigeria needed sensitisation to combat vaccine-preventable diseases.
“Although some developing countries have ventured into vaccine production recently, no modern biotechnology company that produces vaccines exists in Africa, except one in Senegal,” said Dr Agwale.