By Anthony Bugembe

MAKERERE University Medical School is preparing to carry out trials on a malaria vaccine. The African Malaria Network Trust (AMANET) has announced that the GMZ2 vaccine trials will be carried out in Iganga and Mayuge districts.

“Before the end of this year, we shall give the medical school a grant of over 300,000 Euros for capacity building to help them prepare for the trials,” said Prof. Wen Kilama, the managing trustee of AMANET.

The money will be used to train personnel in addition to recruiting and sensitising participants for the trial.
Makerere University Medical School is one of the 21 institutions across Africa, which are benefiting from AMANET’s projects.

AMANET is also carrying out trials on three other malaria vaccines. These are: MSP3 LSP in Burkina Faso and Tanzania, AMA1 in Mali and GMZ2 in Gabon.

About 400 people in Uganda die from malaria everyday. The country’s efforts to fight the disease have largely depended on the distribution of insecticide-treated mosquito nets and residual spraying.

However, in May, internal residual spraying in northern Uganda was stopped following a High Court injunction. This was after environmental activists petitioned over the use of the DDT chemical.

While opening the sixth Basic Research Ethics Workshop for African ethics committees at Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort on Monday, health state minister Emmanuel Otaala said: “Our research must be geared towards finding suitable drugs and vaccines for diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS, which are the main causes of high mortality and morbidity rates on the continent.”

Otaala urged researchers to follow proper ethical practices while carrying out medical trials on human beings.

“There is evidence that some trials have violated the rights of those on whom they are carried out. The poverty in most parts of Africa has made Africans vulnerable to coercion and exploitation by people carrying out medical trials. I urge researchers to protect the participants,” Otaala said.

Kilama also called for the establishment and strengthening of ethics review committees to ensure that medical research participants are well protected.