Assessment of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia health commodities' supply chains in selected hospitals of Lagos State during COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: Pre-eclampsia and eclampsia (PE/E) are rising in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria. This study aims to evaluate the availability and logistics management of sixteen items from the Nigerian essential medicine list required for managing these conditions. Design/Methodology/approach: A cross-sectional study in 50 health-care facilities in Lagos State, Nigeria, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic by interviewing the facility's main person in charge of health commodities. Data were recorded during the visit and in the previous six months using the adapted Logistics Indicators Assessment Tool (LIAT). In addition, descriptive analysis was conducted based on the World Health Organization availability index. Findings: The availability of 13 (81%) of the commodities were high, and 3 (19%) were relatively high in the facilities, stock out rate during the visitation and previous six months varied with the commodities: urinalysis strip (22%) and (40%), hydralazine (20%) and (20%), labetalol injection (8%) and (20%), labetalol tablet (24%) and (24%) and sphygmomanometer (8%) and (8%). No stock out was recorded for 11 (69%) commodities. All the facilities observed 9 (75%) out of the 12 storage guidelines, and 36 (72%) had a perfect storage condition score. Limitations/Implications: Current state of PE/E health commodities in the selected facilities is highlighted, and the strengths and weaknesses of the supply chain in these health facilities were identified and discussed. Originality/value: These commodities' availability ranged from reasonably high to very high. Regular supportive supervision is germane to strengthening the logistics management system for these commodities to prevent the negative impact on the health and well-being of the people during the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic. © 2023, Adesola Olalekan, Victor Igweike, Oloruntoba Ekun, Abosede Adegbite and Olayinka Ogunleye.

Current Situation of mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine

The new virus was initially defined in Wuhan, China, in 2019. Because of its quick transmission, a pandemic spread over the world. The SARS-CoV-2 virus is a subtype of the coronavirus family, the seventh virus type after SARS. The virus enters organisms' cells and produces mRNA in the host cell through a series of processes including replication and transcription. mRNA is translated into the corresponding viral protein in the cell and released from the host cell. To stop the spread of the disease, various vaccines have been developed and put into use in a short time. This paper details the design of a newer type of mRNA vaccine against COVID-19, its advantages and disadvantages, and compares it with other types of vaccines. The comparison reveals that mRNA vaccines have apparent advantages in terms of speed of production and safety, but at the same time their delivery conditions and instability are issues that need to be addressed. If the mRNA vaccines' storage conditions are improved, such as by raising the temperature at which they are stored, extending their half-life, and lowering the stringent storage standards, in the future, mRNA vaccines will play a larger clinical role. © 2022 SPIE. All rights reserved.

Stability Study of mRNA-Lipid Nanoparticles Exposed to Various Conditions Based on the Evaluation between Physicochemical Properties and Their Relation with Protein Expression Ability.

Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are currently in the spotlight as delivery systems for mRNA therapeutics and have been used in the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. mRNA-LNP formulations have been indicated to require strict control, including maintenance at fairly low temperatures during their transport and storage. Since it is a new pharmaceutical modality, there is a lack of information on the systematic investigation of how storage and handling conditions affect the physicochemical properties of mRNA-LNPs and their protein expression ability. In this study, using the mRNA-LNPs with standard composition, we evaluated the effects of temperature, cryoprotectants, vibration, light exposure, and syringe aspiration from the vials on the physicochemical properties of nanoparticles in relation to their in vitro/in vivo protein expression ability. Among these factors, storage at -80 °C without a cryoprotectant caused a decrease in protein expression, which may be attributed to particle aggregation. Exposure to vibration and light also caused similar changes under certain conditions. Exposure to these factors can occur during laboratory and hospital handling. It is essential to have sufficient knowledge of the stability of mRNA-LNPs in terms of their physical properties and protein expression ability at an early stage to ensure reproducible research and development and medical care.