Pharmacists in Nigeria have lauded Chinese pharmacologist Tu Youyou for winning the 2015 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. The pharmacists, who commended the Chinese herbal expert in separate interviews with Xinhua in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial hub, said discovery of Artemisinin has greatly contributed to the health of the peoples in the world. They said the contribution of the Chinese drug is more evident in Africa where many people, particularly children are killed by malaria. The Chinese shared the 2015 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Irish-born William Campbell and Japan's Satoshi Omura for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against malaria. The pharmacologist discovered Artemisinin, a drug that has significantly reduced the mortality rates for patients suffering from malaria. Oluwatoyin Salau of Jutamex Pharmacy in Egbeda area of the state told Xinhua the burden of malaria has been a major source of concern to Nigeria and development partners. He said malaria has remained a major public health problem in Nigeria, which accounts for over 60 percent outpatient visits and 30 percent hospital admissions in Nigeria. According to him, the disease has impacted negatively on the nation's economy with billions of U.S. dollars lost to the disease as cost of treatment and loss in man-hours. "It is a good thing to reward hard-work and that is why I believe the Chinese woman, Tu Youyou deserves the award and I hope, she won't stop here, because there are more diseases that must be confronted," he added. "As for us here, we try as much as possible to advice customers to treat malaria with the best drugs," he told Xinhua. Malik Ogunsakin, another Lagos-based pharmacist told Xinhua Tu Youyou was the one who gave hope to all the affected countries in Africa. Ogunsakin said the award would go a long way to boost other researchers confidence to find a lasting solution to malaria that poses a major challenge to Africa as it impedes human development. Malaria is highly endemic in Nigeria, he added, noting that malaria is said to cost Africa an estimated 12 billion dollars in lost productivity, annually. "It is a welcome development and I hope African and especially, Nigerian researchers would emulate this woman and come up with similar achievement," he said. Malaria has negative effects on tourism and travels especially during the high transmission seasons. An estimated 100 million malaria cases and about 300,000 deaths each year make Nigeria the country with the highest number of malaria casualties worldwide, official statistics, released during the World Malaria Day 2015, said.
