(Can somebody make this a Stickey thread)
Made this thread for people to post news in their countries make great leaps in Health care for the masses, disease curing etc...
Made this thread for people to post news in their countries make great leaps in Health care for the masses, disease curing etc...
Researchers are close to producing a new malaria
vaccine that could see the number of deaths from
the disease drop significantly in Africa.
The vaccine, known simply as RTS,S, is expected
to be available for public use in 2014 subject to
approval by the Ministry of Public Health.
Results from the recent large-scale third stage of
trials show that the vaccine can protect infants
against the deadly disease.
The vaccine is to be administered to children in
three doses.
Speaking on Friday at a conference in Nairobi, the
scientists involved in the research said the
vaccine would give a lifeline to many families in
Africa.
Tool kit
In Kenya, the research is being undertaken by
scientists based at the Centres for Disease Control
and Kenya Medical Research Institute.
“An effective malaria vaccine would be a welcome
addition to our tool kit, even as we record
significant progress in recent years,” a principal
investigator, Ms Patricia Njuguna, said.
“When administered along with standard
childhood vaccines, the efficacy of RTS,S in
infants aged six to 12 weeks at first vaccination
against clinical and severe malaria was 31 and 37
per cent respectively,” Mr Salim Abdulla, a
Tanzanian researcher, said.
He noted that the efficacy level observed with the
dosage last year among children aged five to 17
months against clinical and severe malaria
recorded 55 per cent and 47 per cent success
rates.
An estimated 655,000 people from sub-Saharan
Africa die of malaria annually with children below
five the worst hit, according the World Health
Organisation (WHO).
In Kenya, malaria is one of the top three killers
among infants along with pneumonia and
diarrhoea.
The 2010 Kenya Demographic Health Survey
results showed that at least 84 per cent of
children below 15, which translates to over six
million people, are at the risk of contracting
malaria.
The survey also indicated that over 19,000
infants succumb to the disease annually in Kenya.
Though the current success rating is lower than
the one reported last year, Mr Abdulla said the
information will enable the team gather and
analyse more data from the vaccine trials.
“This will help to determine what factors might
influence efficacy against malaria and to better
understand the potential of RTS,S in our battle
against this devastating disease,” he said.
Ms Njuguna said they will provide more data for
analysis to enable the public to understand the
findings better.