A regional coalition for Lassa fever vaccine development and preparedness in West Africa: A practice-based perspective.

BACKGROUND

Lassa fever causes an estimated 100,000-300,000 infections annually in West Africa, yet vaccine development and country preparedness efforts have remained fragmented. In response, the Lassa Fever Vaccine Coalition (LFVC) was established in 2024 by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the West African Health Organization (WAHO) to align research, policy, and readiness across endemic countries.

METHODS

This practice-based Perspective draws on the authors' experiences as coalition secretariat and founding partners, supplemented by internal program documents, strategic frameworks, meeting reports, and progress reviews produced from 2021 to 2025.

RESULTS

The LFVC established a three-tier governance structure linking ministerial-level strategic oversight, a dedicated regional secretariat, and national taskforces with technical working groups. Early outputs include a regional policy research agenda, initiation of vaccine demand forecasting, support for multi-country clinical trial coordination, and elevation of Lassa vaccine development onto the ECOWAS Council of Health Ministers agenda, which issued a communiqué endorsing regional co-financing. Persistent challenges include financial sustainability, regulatory fragmentation, infrastructure gaps, and uneven trust among affected communities in endemic countries.

CONCLUSION

The LFVC demonstrates how regionally anchored governance mechanisms can improve coordination between vaccine research and country preparedness. The model offers transferable lessons for other epidemic-prone diseases requiring integrated research and policy responses in Africa.