"Dream, Dream, Dream! Conduct these dreams into thoughts, and then transform them into action."
- Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
"Dream, Dream, Dream! Conduct these dreams into thoughts, and then transform them into action."
- Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
26 Apr 2017
The world’s first notably effective malaria vaccine is ready and will be distributed in 3 African countries - Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi to save the life of thousands who suffer from malaria.
This is the first malaria vaccine to have successfully completed a Phase III clinical trial and the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa is introducing the RTS,S to Africa. The RTS,S vaccine counters the malaria parasite by training the immune system to attack it. It needs to be given four times-once a month for three months and then a fourth dose 18 months later.
The WHO came up with the vaccine through tightly controlled and well funded clinical trials. It is running pilots in three countries to see if a full malaria vaccine programme could be started. The safety and effectiveness of the vaccine will also be assessed on a regular basis.
The WHO chose Ghana, Kenya and Malawi because large programmes to tackle malaria are already in full swing there, including the use of bed nets, yet there exists high number of cases.
The maximum number of cases of malaria is in Africa. Global efforts have helped to bring down the deaths due to malaria by 62% in the period between 2000 and 2015. Yet, there were cases of 4,29,000 deaths due to the disease in 2015 and most of them were young children in Africa.
