08/10/21

Distribution key as WHO approves first malaria vaccine

Child malaria check
Doctor taking blood samples from a baby to test malaria. Copyright:Anddramonta Jocelyn/USAID,United States government work

速度阅读

  • Malaria vaccine recommended for use in children across Sub-Saharan Africa
  • ‘Historic moment’ broadly welcomed but concerns raised over distribution
  • 疫苗保护“不完整”,其他干预措施仍然至关重要

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[NAIROBI] The World Health Organization’s recommendation of broad deployment of the firstmalariavaccine among children in Sub-Saharan Africa has been widely celebrated, but scientists warn it could face hurdles in its acquisition and distribution by endemic countries.

The WHO on Wednesday recommended extensive use of the RTS,S vaccine among孩子们in Sub-Saharan Africa and other regions with moderate to high malaria transmission. The vaccine acts against the deadliest malaria transmission parasite,恶性疟原虫,which is prevalent in Africa.

但是酋长西蒙·卡里基(Simon Kariuki)researchofficer at the Kenya Medical Research Institute which was involved in trials of the vaccine, said that the big hurdles now would befinancing疟疾流行国家的机制,可以在这些国家中获得必要的剂量和分配。

““[The WHO recommendation] offers a glimmer of hope for the continent, which shoulders the heaviest burden of the disease and we expect many more African children to be protected from malaria and grow into healthy adults.”

Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa

“Researchers have done their part. It is now upon政府快速审查其疟疾控制计划以采用疫苗。” Kariuki说。

The vaccine has been developed by pharmaceutical giant GSK which has said it will supply doses at manufacturing cost plus five per cent, but has not detailed how much this is.

According to the latest世界疟疾报告, there were an estimated 229 million cases of malaria globally in 2019, with the WHO African region accounting for 94 per cent of all cases and deaths.

A child under five years old dies of malaria every two minutes, according toUNICEF估计,同时说疟疾在非洲五岁以下的儿童中每年造成260,000人死亡。

Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s regional director for Africa, said the recommendation marked a milestone in Africa’s long wait for an effective malaria vaccine. It “offers a glimmer of hope for the continent, which shoulders the heaviest burden of the disease and we expect many more African children to be protected from malaria and grow into healthy adults,” she added.

The WHO recommendation, announced by director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stems from the results of an ongoing malaria vaccine pilot programme in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi that began in 2019 and has reached almost 800,000 children.

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Describing it as a “historic moment”, Ghebreyesus said that the vaccine would increase equity in access to malaria prevention, was cost-effective and could help those unable to access existing prevention measures such as bed nets.

However, other interventions remain vital, health experts stressed, since the vaccine is only 30 per cent effective in reducing severe cases of malaria.

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Brian Greenwood, professor of clinical tropical medicine at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine who played a key role in the vaccine research, said RTS,S did not provide complete protection but had “great potential to reduce death and illness in high burden areas, especially when combined with other interventions such as seasonal malaria chemoprevention and bed nets”.

Don Mathanga, director of the Malaria Alert Centre at the University of Malawi, said: “The vaccine is a welcome intervention in this region where decline in malaria has plateaued and in countries such as Malawi the cases have been rising. This vaccine will reduce devastating effects of malaria in the region and support its economic growth.”

However, Mathanga cautioned that the speed of deployment will depend on how quickly countries adopt the vaccine and the availability of resources to support its rollout.

Kariuki urged Sub-Saharan countries to initiate谈判与世界卫生组织访问疫苗一旦possible.

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“It’s a golden opportunity for countries to have this vaccine as mosquitoes are increasingly becoming insecticide-resistant and could render bed nets ineffective leading to a rise in malaria cases,” he added.

肯尼亚基苏木全球卫生研究中心的疟疾研究计划负责人卡里基(Kariuki)说,肯尼亚等国家有能力存储疫苗并可以轻松扩大其分布。

Kariuki said the third phase of clinical trials revealed that the vaccine was 50 per cent efficacious in preventing malaria in children aged between five and 17 months. The vaccine is given in three doses between these ages, with a fourth dose about 18 months later.

The four-dose regimen has raised concerns about uptake in endemic countries, where health facilities may be limited. However, Kariuki said uptake in the pilot countries was promising and he expects no challenges administering the requisite number of doses more broadly.

This piece was produced by SciDev.Net’s Sub-Saharan Africa English desk.