The University of Jos yesterday announced a breakthrough in the treatment of malaria when it confirmed the viability and production of Artemisia annua, a plant used in the prevention and treatment of malaria in Plateau State.

The university’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Hayward Mafuayi, who made the announcement at a press conference in Jos, said the plant, also known as Sweet wormwood, is an active ingredient in the anti-malarial combination therapy that is widely used to treat malaria.

He said the study conducted by the university successfully tested and confirmed the growing of Artemisia annua for research and production which until recently, was only known to have been grown in China, India, East Africa and the Island of Madagascar.

Mafuayi explained that the institution through its Centre for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering have harvested “283 kg of dry Artemisia annua leaves and 48 kg of Artemisia annua seeds which have already been tested at the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), Abuja, and have confirmed that the Artemisinin content of the leaves contains 4.8% of Artesinin weight.

“The percentage is much higher than most strains of the plant grown in other parts of the world which have been used for Artemisin combination Therapy,” he said.

He thanked the Federal Ministry of Education and the World Bank for funding STEP-B initiative for commercial cultivation of the plant which he said gulped $198,000 and urged pharmaceutical companies and other interested clients to partner with the university in the continued cultivation and research on plant.

HNosegbe:

This news just made my morning. Imagine how many breakthroughs we would have made as a country if university research is properly funded.

PresidentT:

@Pato you are right. The new mode of treating malaria now uses the Artemisin as a based compound in combination with any of Amodiaquine, Lumefantrine, Mefloquine.
Nice one Unijos!

Ibukune:

am proudly a josite. Great josites.

Okija_juju:

And so what?!

Did you work on the project?!

Okija_juju:

Good Job Unijos. . .

This is much better than that Covenant University toy car. . . .

Okija_juju:

Univeristy researches are funded by Government, Companies _{(depending on what research)} and the universities. . . But when the Universities are not allowed to charge enough fees to enable them function properly, are also not adequately funded by the government that has literarilly made education free, and the companies are not willing to fund reseacrhes because of the dilapited equipments in the schools, what you end up with is "Nigerian Universities". . .

Parnassuss:

Universities are not allowed to charge students? Where?? In Nigeria?? Have you considered how much Igbinedion, Madonna, Caritas, Leeds etc charge and has anyone tried to stop them?
All over the world state run universities are cheaper and more affordable but that does not mean they should be underfunded by the govt. ASUU ought to fought better for funding rather than age increment.
All the same a fantastic job by UJ. This might be a million dollar investment if they can handle it properly.

beespak7:

NICE ONE

Congrats unijos keep the good work but this is just a tip of the ice berg more breakthroughs need to be made. Nigerian universities need to step up their reseach and work we have the potentials.Incredible but true, most technologies we use today are actually breakthrough and discovery from university research.

sucre05:

Good news, but I was expecting something more exciting. Artemisinin and its derivatives have since been used widely in malaria treatment usually as a combination therapy. Sadly, numerous cases of resistance have been reported; hence, I was expecting to hear something about a new molecule or a more active arteminisinin derivative.

But Kudos to Unijos, at least they are making effort and that's the most important.