Dr. Akpaka Kalu, WHO’s regional advisor for tropical and vector-borne diseases, said that the positive results of ongoing pilot programs of malaria vaccination in three African countries – Ghana, Malawi and Kenya – prompted the organization to recommend the widespread use of RTS. inspired to. had led. S/AS0 or Mosquirix among children in sub-Saharan Africa.
“The datasets created in these studies and field trials were done by African scientists,” Kalu said.
The vaccine, a product of 30 years of research, was developed by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline in collaboration with a network of African research centers with partial funding from Seattle-based health non-profit Path and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the WHO said. said. did.
Kalu said discussions are underway to move vaccine manufacturing technology to Africa as facilities on the continent build local infrastructure for the production of COVID-19 vaccines.
“We hope that in the future the technology used for COVID vaccines will be used to manufacture malaria vaccines and other vaccines,” he said.
proud comrades
In Ghana, Dr. Kezia El Malm, program manager for the National Malaria Control Program, told CNN he was proud of the contributions made by his colleagues who participated in the clinical trial.
“It’s been a very long time and it’s refreshing to see the results of a collaboration of Ghanaian scientists, who I know personally, have worked on this research and study.”
Kezia said malaria is a disease that mostly affects Africans and it is important that research on prevention and treatment is carried out by experts from across the continent.
In sub-Saharan Africa, malaria is the leading cause of death and illness in children under the age of five. According to WHO, more than 260,000 children under the age of five annually.
The WHO said more than 800,000 children have received the pilot vaccine through clinics so far.
Clinical trials have concluded that the vaccine provides 39% protection against malaria in newborns between the ages of five and 17 months. Further research also suggests that the benefits of the vaccine fade over time.
Dr. Doyin Odubanjo, a public health expert and executive secretary of the Nigerian Academy of Sciences, said the vaccine is another tool to combat malaria and should not be seen as a magic bullet for its prevention.
“The vaccine is quite effective in reducing severe cases of malaria, although it is usually not highly effective and tends to worsen quickly,” Odubanjo said.
“That means we shouldn’t give up on other means.”
CNN’s Jacqueline Howard and Lauren Moorhouse contributed reporting.
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