Vaccine Therapy For Malaria?

                   

The days of malaria, one of Africa's main health challenges - and equally that of swathes of South and Central America and other tropical environments across the world - appears to be gradually coming to an end with the recent approval, for use, of the malaria vaccine, Mosquirix, which had undergone development and generally successful trials, in the past 28 years.


This is expected, hopefully, in the months to come, to put an end to the threat of malaria, endemic in mosquito-infected regions in which over half of the world's population live. Malaria matters to us because Africa accounts for one of the highest disease burdens and the greatest number of mortalities in the world. Each year, almost one million Africans, mostly children, die of malaria. In addition, we lose a considerable number of working hours to the illness.

The Mosquirix or RTS, S malaria vaccine (developed from two proteins (RTS and S), announced by the European Union Human Medicine Regulatory Agency barely a fortnight ago is being offered "not-for-profit" by GlaxoSmithkline - GSK - (which sponsored the development of the vaccine in collaboration with the Malaria Vaccine Initiative, and a host of private and public sponsors, including The Global Fund, ExxonMobil Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, etc). Mosquirix will be distributed at cost with only a 5 percent mark up, which would be subsequently invested in research for newer vaccines, according to statements from the manufacturers - GlaxoSmithkline - GSK.

This is a welcome, and salutary, collaboration in social philanthropy among some of the world's biggest business entities and the civic sector of non-governmental organisations like the Malaria Vaccine Initiative, The Global Fund, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which have built credibility in brining attention while serving as missioners of global health care. It is just as well to know, also, that in a world increasingly ravaged by the morality of the teller machine, we can toast to one pleasant moment of the triumph of the humanistic instincts of social capital.
Several studies have shown malaria as having a deep-rooted link with poverty, with the poorest countries, usually with people living on less than US$I .25 a day carrying the highest burden.

According to estimates by the World Health Organisation, of the six highest malaria-prevalent countries in Africa, Nigeria tops the incidence log, followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique, and Cote d'Ivoire.
These six countries constitute a projected 47 percent (or 103 million) of malaria incidence in the world. South East Asia is the second most affected region, with India bearing the largest burden of about 24 million cases per year, and Indonesia and Myanmar following it.

Excerpt from PT