Health

CEPI, partners conducting clinical studies to develop vaccine for Lassa Fever

Published

1 year ago

October 1, 2024

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), says studies are underway to conduct clinical trials to develop a vaccine for Lassa fever in West Africa.

Dr Elsie Ilori, the coalition’s National Project Coordinator for Enable 1.5 in Nigeria disclosed this on Monday in Abuja at the linauguration of the project.

It will be recalled that Lassa fever is a deadly hemorrhagic fever prevalent in West Africa.

According to Ilori, the main purpose of the trials is for clinical studies to be able to produce vaccine towards Lassa fever disease, to ensure that the burden of the disease in the country and the West Africa region is reduced.

“The study will help us understand Lassa fever itself, how people react to the disease, and the effects of the vaccine on people.

“By understanding the disease, we will be able to understand how the vaccine will work with people.”

She also said that the study aimed to understand Lassa fever’s symptoms and effects on people, evaluate the vaccine’s safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity, and develop a vaccine effective against multiple strains of the disease.

“We are working closely with community leaders, healthcare workers, and local authorities to sensitise the public about the study.

“This includes explaining the study’s objectives, benefits, and potential risks.”

She said that three countries, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Liberia were participating, with five sites selected based on high Lassa fever burden.

However, Nigeria has three sites: Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Edo state and Alex Ekwueme University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki.

“These sites were selected due to their high disease burden, increasing the likelihood of enrolling participants with Lassa fever,” Ilori added.

She said that the study prioritised community engagement and sensitisation, whereby researchers would conduct house-to-house enrollment, obtaining consent from household heads.

She also added that participants must provide informed consent and could withdraw at any time without consequences.

She further said that the study would help sensitise people and prepare them for vaccine acceptance.

“The study’s success relies on collaboration between researchers, healthcare workers, and community leaders from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.

“We believe that this study will pave the way for a vaccine, bringing relief to communities ravaged by the disease.

“We are one step closer to a vaccine, and that’s a remarkable achievement.

“The study’s findings is expected to also inform public health policy and guide future vaccine development.”

In addition to CEPI, the study is supported by global health partners, including the World Health Organisation and the Federal Government.

Royce Fulton, the Programme Manager, CEPI for the Enable Lassa Research Programme, said that beyond developing the vaccines through clinical trials, it was important to also be able to identify where the disease was.

Also, to build the necessary capacities within the countries and within the partners in Nigeria and other countries in order to be able to really prepare for the great work that lay ahead.

According to him, having clinical trials at a large scale that allow for the identification of the effectiveness of a new vaccine will be with the ambition of having the vaccine ready by 2030 in Nigeria.

“So this Enable 1.5 study, what is going to be the methodology, the outcomes, and when is it possible to be ready? We’re thinking that for the vaccine trials, these are going to be happening imminently.

“We do feel that there is a lot yet to be done for preparedness, for readiness, to make sure the sites and the countries are really equipped with the knowledge, expertise and the tools to be able to conduct large-scale clinical trials.

“So what we have done is spent the past five years implementing a large multi-center prospective cohort trial in order to be able to understand where the disease lies by following 23,000 subjects in the past few years.

“To understand how many of them developed Lassa fever in that time, how many of them are exposed to the vector, which is the rats that live in the houses with them.

“Also, how many of these people can be pulled into further research to help us understand just how effective this vaccine is going to be.

The reports have it that participants from Nigeria, Liberia, and Sierra Leone will be enrolled with selection criteria based on age, with adults, adolescents, and children as young as two years old being eligible, as well as people living with HIV.

The aim of the study is to strengthen country clinical trial capacity for late stage vaccine trials and develop scientific data to guide vaccine development. (NAN) (www.nanews.ng)

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Health

Stakeholders Applaud A360 Impact On Adolescent Health

Published

3 days ago

November 28, 2025

The Gleamer

Stakeholders in Nigeria’s health and development sector say the institutionalisation and scale-up of the Adolescent 360 (A360) Amplify project have greatly improved adolescent sexual and reproductive health outcomes in participating states.

They made this known at a dissemination meeting on the project on Thursday in Abuja.

It was implemented by the Society for Family Health (SFH) and partners, and later adopted into government systems following documented successes.

Launched in 2020, the A360 project was designed to provide adolescent girls with access to sexual and reproductive health information, youth-friendly services and economic empowerment opportunities.

The programme was implemented in Kano, Jigawa, Kaduna and Nasarawa States using a human-centred design approach that engaged governments, communities and young people to improve uptake of family planning and maternal health services.

Dr Aisha Sadiq, Permanent Secretary, Kaduna State Ministry of Health, said institutionalising A360 had delivered measurable improvements in adolescent health indicators and community wellbeing.

She said Kaduna currently provides A360 youth-friendly services in 623 Primary Health Care (PHC) centres.

The Matasan Mata Arewa (MMA) initiative, she added, had reached 75 communities and empowered more than 15,000 girls with entrepreneurship skills and seed capital.

According to her, more than 60,000 girls have accessed contraceptives through the programme, with a reduction in discontinuation rates as more young women sustain use and transition to maternal and child health services.

“These changes have shown a marked reduction in maternal mortality among those communities. It has also reduced negative neonatal outcomes,” she said.

Sadiq recounted an elderly woman’s remarks from a programme community, calling them a strong reflection of the project’s success.

“These girls have spent their whole lives believing they will remain tolerable liabilities to the husbands they marry, but now they are realising the value of becoming appreciated assets,” she quoted.

Sadiq added that Kaduna’s 16 per cent health budget allocation and the integration of A360 activities into the state’s 2025 Annual Operational Plan demonstrated sustained political commitment.

Also speaking, Dr Omokhudu Idogho, Managing Director, SFH, said the four implementing states had successfully embedded A360 approaches into government systems, community structures and routine health practices.

He was represented by Dr Kenechukwu Erichalo, Deputy Managing Director, Project Delivery.

Idogho said the project had reached more than one million adolescent girls with family planning services and engaged over 500,000 others with comprehensive sexuality education messaging.

“We recorded more than 50,000 antenatal care visits, ensuring that girls received skilled care that saved lives, and supported over half a million girls to learn income-generating skills,” he said.

He said A360 pioneered the MMA and Niger Girls models, demonstrating that culturally sensitive, human-centred programmes can succeed even in conservative communities.

“Our most significant achievement is institutionalisation. Today, all 1,750 A360-supported facilities are fully government-led,” he added.

Mrs Roselyn Odeh, A360 Project Lead, said the initiative was developed in response to poor adolescent health indices in the country.

She said the programme ensured respectful, youth-friendly services at PHCs and supported school reintegration and entrepreneurship for girls.

She said the decision to scale the programme in northern states was based on data.

“When you look at maternal mortality among young people, you know the section of the country it is coming from. Data drove our decisions in alignment with government priorities,” she said.

Odeh identified challenges including weak PHC infrastructure, funding gaps, commodity shortages and the need to engage husbands in conservative communities.

“But creatively, we worked with governments to mobilise domestic funding through health revolving funds and the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund,” she said.

Mr Sagir Musa, Commissioner for Youth, Jigawa State, assured of continued commitment from implementing states to sustain and expand the project’s gains.

“This project may be nearing closure, but for us, it has just begun. We have gone beyond its life cycle to embed its approaches in the things we do,” he said.

The dissemination meeting brought together policymakers, community leaders, development partners and beneficiaries to review lessons learned and outline future priorities for scaling adolescent health interventions nationwide.

(NAN)

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