Innovative Use of World ’s First Malaria Vaccine Generates Remarkable Results and a Life-Saving Opportunity

Malaria still kills 400,000 people every year, most of them African children under five years old. RTS,S is the first malaria vaccine shown to reduce malaria and life-threatening severe malaria in young children. Credit: Mercedes Sayagues/IPSBy Kesete AdmasuSep 1 2021 (IPS) In the midst of the tragedy and turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s gratifying to see work continuing in Africa to find new ways of fighting malaria, a very old disease that has been a formidable foe for thousands of years and still kills 400,000 people every year, most of them African children under five years old. Scientists from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and their colleagues at the Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé in Burkina Faso and the University of Bamako in Mali published results from a phase 3 trial that involved the world’s first and only malaria vaccine. The new evidence from Mali and Burkina Faso shows that RTS,S—which is also being introduced in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi in a landmark pilot introduction —could be an even more valuable tool than originally expected. And those of us involved in the fight against malaria are certainly eager for good news. RTS,S is the first malaria vaccine shown to reduce malaria and life-threatening severe malaria in young children. Approximately 2.1 million doses of the vaccine have been provided and more than 750,000 children have received their first vaccine dose through the pilot programme where malaria ...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Africa Headlines Health Malaria Source Type: news