Esther Odediran
Professor Christian Tientcha Happi shows optimism in developing Covid-19 kits worldwide. Christian is a Professor of Molecular Biology and Genomics in the Department of Biological Sciences, and the Director African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID), Redeemer’s University.
He has carried out research focus on Human Genomics, Molecular Biology and Genomics of Infectious Diseases, especially Malaria, Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers (Lassa fever, Ebola Virus Disease, and HIV among others.
Christian Tientcha Happi laboratory confirmed the first case of Ebola Virus Disease in Nigeria in the 2014 Ebola outbreak, he worked in Nigerian Health Officials for the successful containment of the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria.
Developing Covid-19 kits is not difficult for him to discover knowing how much knowledge he has acquired on his researches.
He spoke about how they developed the rapid diagnostic test kit for covid, which can give result within 10 minutes to 15 minutes.
According to Prof. Christian:
We can develop one of the fastest rapid diagnostic test kits for covid-19 in the world, before that we did something five days or within a week after the first case of covid was announced in Nigeria, we can come up with e-sub-screening test tools in Nigeria and link that up with other local government and Yaba Hospital. Then we went on to develop the rapid diagnostic test kit for covid, how did we do that? We did that because we were the lab that reconfirmed the very first case in Lagos that was tested by PCR, NCDC sent the sample to us and we can confirm it
About diagnostic test kit he said “It took us 72 hours. This process usually takes weeks but we did it in 72 hours”
Speaking about his Covid-19 kits:
This test kit is faster and cheaper, in which within 10 minutes to 15 minutes you will have the result. You don’t need to collect a blood sample, just saliva and you don’t need a specialized laboratory. It is the test that is mostly adopted for Africa because you don’t need a highly specialized lab.
However, he complained about the negligence of African leaders towards research. He stated that Africans should be “Producers” not “consumers” so that we won’t be in a “weak” and “vulnerable” position.
Christian Happi optimism about developing Covid-19 kits worldwide can only be achieved if the Government can make “Investment in research in Africa academic” sector and circulation of Africa research knowledge.
He added:
Covid-19 is real, people should take necessary precautions if we did not respect the safety rules it will be difficult to get rid of this disease even if the vaccine is given out”
