World Health Organization (WHO) has officially prequalified a new vaccine designed to combat the mosquito-borne viral disease; dengue fever.

The WHO announced a news release, that the new vaccine for dengue has received prequalification by its organization on Friday, May 10.

The newly prequalified vaccine, TAK-003 is developed by a multinational pharmaceutical company, Takeda as the second dengue vaccine to be prequalified by WHO.

According to WHO, TAK-003 is a live-attenuated vaccine containing weakened versions of the four serotypes of the virus that cause dengue.

Dr. Rogerio Gaspar, director for Regulation and Prequalification for Dengue, WHO,  emphasized the vaccine’s potential to save lives and reduce the burden on healthcare systems in dengue-endemic areas.

“The prequalification of TAK-003 is an important step in the expansion of global access to dengue vaccines, as it is now eligible for procurement by UN agencies including UNICEF and PAHO,” Dr. Gaspar said.

“With only two dengue vaccines to date prequalified, we look forward to more vaccine developers coming forward for assessment so that we can ensure vaccines reach all communities who need it.” Dr. Gaspar added

The WHO prequalification list also includes the CYD-TDV vaccine against dengue developed by Sanofi Pasteur.

Both vaccines are tetravalent live-attenuated vaccines but differ in the extent of chimerization and the genome backbone, as well as in efficacy and safety.

Also, the CYD-TDV vaccine schedule consists of 3 doses administered 6 months apart, with an indication for individuals aged 9–45 years or 9–60 years (depending on the country-specific regulatory approvals) living in dengue-endemic countries or areas while the TAK-003 vaccine schedule consists of 2 doses administered subcutaneously with an interval of 3 months between doses.

The WHO further recommended the use of TAK-003 in children aged 6–16 years in settings with high dengue burden and transmission intensity noting that the vaccine should be administered in a 2-dose schedule with a 3-month interval between doses.

Dengue fever, a viral infection caused by the dengue virus (DENV) is a potentially deadly vector-borne disease transmitted by the bite of an infected mosquito; Aedes mosquitoes. It poses a significant public health threat in many tropical and subtropical regions, affecting millions of people each year, with severe cases leading to potentially lethal complications developing from dengue infections.

According to the news release, the WHO estimates over 100-400 million cases of dengue worldwide each year with 3.8 billion people living in dengue-endemic countries, most of which are in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

The largest number of dengue cases reported was in 2023 with the WHO Region of the Americas reporting 4.5 million cases and 2300 deaths. Dengue cases are likely to increase and expand geographically due to climate change and urbanization.

According to the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) in December 2023, a total of 71 suspected cases, 13 confirmed cases, and zero deaths have been reported in Sokoto state with the state being the only one with reported confirmed cases so far.

Nigeria Innovation Summit (NIS) has announced the 9th edition of its annual event, slated to hold on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, at Muson Centre, Lagos.

This edition of the summit will focus on the theme: Building a Culture of Innovation. The Summit is an annual event that brings together critical stakeholders from different sectors of the economy to discuss ground-breaking ideas, trends, opportunities, and numerous verticals to accelerate innovation and solutions that solve unique challenges within Nigeria and the African continent at large.

Each year the summit provides a platform that fosters collaborations among startups, innovators, entrepreneurs, businesses, policymakers, the academic community, and international organizations.

NIS also provides opportunities for Nigerian innovators, researchers, and entrepreneurs to showcase their innovative ideas, products, and services with solutions for industrial applications, adoption, and commercialisation.

While announcing this year’s summit, Mr. Tony Ajah, the Programme Director of the summit states, “An innovative culture is essential for national development and provides opportunities for economic growth. As leading nations around the world have used the culture of innovation to improve the quality of their lives, Nigeria should not be left out.

“To establish this culture of innovation in our society, we must build strong institutions at all levels that embrace innovation as a way of life, and that leverage emerging technologies to solve critical local problems. When properly done, this will reduce the innovation deficit in the country and increase productivity,”

For the 9th year in a roll, NIS brings in experts within the Nigeria innovation ecosystem and around the world to connect, share ideas, and collaborate.

This year’s event will feature insightful discussions, innovation experience talks, innovative showcases, startup pitches, and exhibitions focusing on healthtech, agritech, renewable energy and cleantech, fintech, real estate, edutech, techtainment, startup/entrepreneurship development, among others.

Participation in this event is open to local and international businesses, innovators, start-ups, entrepreneurs, SMEs, government agencies, embassies/high commissions, investors, research centres, the academic community, companies/organisations, and all the stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem.

The Nigeria Innovation Summit 9.0 offers great opportunities through sponsorship, partnership, and exhibitions of innovative products, ideas, and services. For more inquiries and participation, please visit: https://innovationsummit.ng/

Awual Rafsanjani, executive director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and head,  Transparency International in Nigeria (TI-Nigeria), has accused banks of offering opportunities for terrorism financing in the country.

Rafsanjani, stated this at the multi-stakeholder meeting on terrorism financing and violent extremism in the North-East, organised by CISLAC and TI-Nigeria, financed by GIABA-ECOWAS.

According to Rafsanjani, “The financial sector has been exploited for terrorism financing. The use of the financial sector indicates the increasing capabilities of some terrorist groups. These include the Bureau de Change operators, Point of Sale (POS) devices, wire transfers, and Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions, among other enabling platforms expanding the scope and depth of terrorism financing.

“It is worrisome that illegal money exchangers including Bureau De Change have been featured in several Terrorism Financing investigations. The 2022 National Inherent Risk Assessment of Terrorism Financing report reveals that between 2019 and 2022, about 19 companies were linked to illegal money exchangers who have used their companies to commingle funds considered to be linked to Terrorism Financing.”

In his goodwill message, Ola Olukoyede, chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)  said that the commission is settling for the use of technology to combat illicit flow of monies into the hands of terrorists.

Olukoyede expressed worry over the dimension terrorism financing has taken, disclosing that the EFCC has discovered platforms other than Binance, which are being used for terrorism financing, saying over a thousand of such accounts were closed.

He said: “The challenge before us is to seek solutions to end this decade-long nightmare and restore order to the troubled region. The quest for a solution is not entirely new. Several conferences and workshops have been convoked, yet the situation remains dire.

“For us in the EFCC, like most Nigerians, the concern is on how this crisis continues to defy solutions and fester? How is it that the terrorist groups in the region are able to sustain their operations, acquire more sophisticated weaponry and engage in daring combat with the Nigerian military?

“It would seem that an economy of criminality has developed around terrorism and violent extremism in the region, where actors who are profiting from the chaos do not cherish the return of civil order. How for instance do we explain the activities of supposed non-profit organisations who profess to want to provide succor to the distressed but end up exploiting their misery for financial gains?

“How do we explain the action of unscrupulous actors who hide under the cover of humanitarian activities to fund terrorist groups? These are issues that we must continue to interrogate.

“The EFCC has had cause to prosecute so-called promoters of non-profit organisation who exploited the desperate conditions in the North-East to profiteer. I am sure many of you are aware of a lady that is called Mama Boko Haram, who at the peak of the insurgency positioned herself as a credible intermediary for the insurgents, but is now in jail for exploiting the distressed citizens of the North-East for personal gain.

“Part of the focus of the EFCC in the quest to tackle terrorism and violent extremism in that region is to follow the funds trail of critical actors in the region and cutting off the supply line of illicit funds to known criminal groups. This responsibility has seen the Commission pay more attention to the movement of funds by NPOs in the region, who are now required to make a declaration to the EFCC.

“Some of our discoveries recently into investigating some of these platforms was mind bugging, and we thought Binance was a major one, yes a major one and we are prosecuting them but much more, other platforms we have discovered, of course you are aware that EFCC has to freeze over a thousand account, and it will shock you what some of those accounts are used for, and some of them are used to fund terrorism activities.

“You can imagine the dimension the whole problem is taking and so, it is important for us to adopt the use of technology, and that is what we are going to do to see how we can adopt technology to be able to track every Naira,” he said.

Also, in a goodwill speech, Dr Musa Aliyu, SAN, chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission, (ICPC), said, “ICPC is fully committed to contributing its expertise and resources to this fight. We are prepared to intensify our efforts in financial oversight, enhance our investigative and prosecutorial capacities, and work closely with all stakeholders to disrupt the financial networks that fuel terrorism.”