Search

Seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) by mass administration of sulfadoxine pyrimethamine + amodiaquine (SPAQ) reduces the burden of malaria in children aged 3–59 months. The occurrence of adverse drug reaction (ADR) may affect the success of this intervention. There are few studies of SMC adverse event surveillance in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Burkina Faso, a highly endemic country. Our main objective was to characterize the ADRs reported during SMC campaigns in Burkina Faso. Secondly, we evaluated the performance of the pharmacovigilance integrated into the SMC program in order to support safe administration of SMC., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Lassa fever (LF) is a zoonotic viral hemorrhagic disease endemic to several West African countries. Approximately 300–500,000 cases occur annually across all ages with 10–20% case fatality rates. A LF vaccine is a recognized public health priority, with several candidates entering clinical trials. However, the perspectives of regional experts regarding critical vaccine properties, ideal delivery methods, and priority target populations remain unclear. Using a mixed methods approach with a standardized questionnaire, we individually interviewed 8 West African stakeholders, each with extensive knowledge and experience of LF. They strongly favored the use of a mass, proactive campaign strategy to immunize a wide age range of people in high-risk areas, including pregnant women and health care workers. We estimated that these and other plausible delivery scenarios could result in an initial demand of anywhere from 1 to 100 million doses, with most demand coming from Nigeria. These findings may help inform LF vaccine development and deployment efforts., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The essence of a vaccine lies in its ability to elicit a set of immune responses specifically directed at a particular pathogen. Accordingly, vaccines were historically designed, developed, registered, recommended, procured, and administered as monopathogen formulations. Nonetheless, the control and elimination of an astonishing number of diseases was realised only after several once-separate vaccines were provided as combinations. Unfortunately, the current superabundance of recommended and pipeline vaccines is now at odds with the number of acceptable vaccine administrations and feasible health-care visits for vaccine recipients and health-care providers. Yet, few new combinations are in development because, in addition to the scientific and manufacturing hurdles intrinsic to coformulation, developers face a gauntlet of regulatory, policy, and commercialisation obstacles in a milieu still largely designed for monopathogen vaccines. We argue here that national policy makers and public health agencies should prospectively identify and advocate for the development of new multipathogen combination vaccines, and suggest ways to accelerate the regulatory pathways to licensure of combinations and other concrete, innovative steps to mitigate current obstacles., SCOPUS: re.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Large-scale deployment of new medicines has been observed over the last two decades in many Sub-Saharan Africa countries faced with major public health issues such as malaria and HIV/AIDS. However, some of these medicines may be responsible for varying degrees of toxicity, with adverse drug reactions leading to decreased compliance or even discontinuation of treatment. Pharmacovigilance systems therefore had to be set up in these countries, such as in Burkina Faso, West Africa, which initiated the organization of pharmacovigilance activities in 2008. Despite this progress, the systems in place have not yet achieved a sufficient level of performance to deal with drug-related health issues, highlighting the need for further actions. Pharmacovigilance in Burkina Faso can be strengthened at multiple levels: pre-service and in-service training of health workers; the establishment of active surveillance based on sentinel sites; informing the public and raising awareness; and strengthening national coordination., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published