POOR COUNTRIES HAVE THE CHALLENGE
OF DELIVERING THE REQUIRED 4 DOSES OF THE VACCINE FOR EACH CHILD
JOHANNESBURG
: Three African countries have been chosen to test the world’s first malaria
vaccine, the World Health Organization announced Monday.
Ghana,
Kenya and Malawi will begin piloting the injectable vaccine next year with
hundreds of thousands of young children, who have been at highest risk of
death.
The
vaccine, which has partial effectiveness, has the potential to save tens of
thousands of lives if used with existing measures, the WHO regional director
for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, said in a statement. The challenge is whether
impoverished countries can deliver the required four doses of the vaccine for
each child. Malaria remains one of the world’s most stubborn health challenges,
infecting more than 200 million people every year and killing about half a
million, most of them children in Africa.Bed netting and insecticides are the
chief protection. Sub-Saharan Africa is hardest hit by the disease, with about
90 percent of the world’s cases in 2015.
Malaria
spreads when a mosquito bites someone already infected, sucks up blood and
parasites, and then bites another person.
A
global effort to counter malaria has led to a 62% cut in deaths between 2000
and 2015, WHO said. The vaccine will be tested on children five to 17 months
old.
Source: Hindustan Times
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