NIPRD Calls For African-led Research, Urges Philanthropy To Fund Local Health Innovations

The Director-General of the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), Dr. Obi Adigwe, has called for Africa to take ownership of its health research and innovation, emphasizing the need to build local scientific capacity to address the continent’s health challenges.

Speaking at the SPARK Translational Research Boot Camp and Conference on Monday in Abuja, Dr. Adigwe said the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the unsustainability of relying on foreign solutions for African health problems.

“Before COVID, the prevailing thought was that we should manufacture medicines abroad where it was cheaper and import them to Africa. The pandemic proved that we must build these capacities locally,” he said.

Dr. Adigwe noted that Africa’s intellectual capital and biodiversity provide a unique opportunity to develop homegrown solutions for pressing health issues such as Sickle Cell, diabetes, and cancer. He urged philanthropists and families with histories of these diseases to contribute to research endowments.

“If you have diabetes in your family, leave funding for diabetes research. If you have Sickle Cell, leave funding for Sickle Cell research. If you have cancer, leave funding for cancer research. This is how leading universities like Stanford, Oxford, and Cambridge built their research capacity,” he said.

Highlighting the importance of building intellectual capacity, Dr. Adigwe compared NIPRD’s partnership with Stanford University to the role Stanford played in creating Silicon Valley, describing it as an engine for innovation.

“Just as Silicon Valley drives technology and economic growth, our collaboration aims to empower Nigerian and African scientists to innovate, improve access to medicines, and build an economy that can sustain 1.5 billion people across Africa,” he said.

The NIPRD chief also stressed that Africa must stop waiting for external actors to solve its health challenges and leverage its own scientific and research capabilities to create sustainable solutions.