Admin l Monday, April 24, 2017
GENEVA, Switzerland – The World Health Organisation, (WHO) has approved the first batch of malaria vaccine for three African countries.
The benefiting African countries are Ghana, Kenya and Malawi. According to WHO, the vaccine has already been tested extensively on more than 15,000 children and will reach the benefiting countries in 2018.
“The RTS,S vaccine trains the immune system to attack the malaria parasite, which is spread by mosquito bites”, WHO said, adding that the jab had the potential to save tens of thousands of lives.
The vaccine needs to be given four times – once a month for three months and then a fourth dose 18 months later.
WHO is running pilots in the three countries to see if a full malaria vaccine programme could be started. It will also continue to assess the safety and effectiveness of the vaccination.
Speaking on the development, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said the prospect of a malaria vaccine is great news.
“Information gathered in the pilot programme will help us make decisions on the wider use of this vaccine. Combined with existing malaria interventions, such a vaccine would have the potential to save tens of thousands of lives in Africa, ” he said and that the pilot will involve more than 750,000 children aged between five and 17 months.
There are 212 million new cases of malaria each year with 429,000 deaths, with Africa as the most affected.
