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Dr Akpaka Kalu, WHO regional advisor for tropical and vector-borne diseases, said the positive results of the ongoing pilot malaria vaccination programs in three African countries – Ghana, Malawi and Kenya – led the organization to recommend widespread use of RTS, S / AS0 or Mosquirix in children in sub-Saharan Africa.
“The datasets that were generated in these studies and field trials were performed by African scientists,” Kalu said.
The vaccine, a product of 30 years of research, was developed by UK drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline in collaboration with PATH, a Seattle-based nonprofit, and a network of African research centers, with partial funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said the WHO.
Kalu said discussions are underway to transfer vaccine manufacturing technology to Africa as facilities on the continent build local infrastructure to produce Covid-19 vaccines.
“We hope that the same technology used for Covid vaccines will be used to make malaria vaccines and other vaccines in the future,” he said.
Proud colleagues
In Ghana, Dr Keziah L Malm, program manager at the National Malaria Control Program, told CNN that she was proud of the contributions of her colleagues who participated in the clinical trial.
“It has been so long and it is refreshing to see the results of the collaboration of Ghanaian scientists, whom I know personally, have been working on this research and these studies,” she said.
Keziah said malaria is a disease that primarily affects Africans and it was important that research on prevention and treatment be conducted by experts from the continent.
Malaria is the leading cause of death and illness in children under five in sub-Saharan Africa. More than 260,000 children under five per year, according to the WHO.
To date, more than 800,000 children have received the pilot vaccine in clinics, the WHO said.
Clinical trials have concluded that the vaccine offers 39% protection against malaria in newborns aged five to 17 months. Other research also suggests that the vaccine’s benefits wear off over time.
Dr Doyin Odubanjo, public health expert and executive secretary of the Nigerian Academy of Sciences, said the vaccine is another tool in the fight against malaria and should not be seen as a quick fix for its prevention.
“The vaccine is effective enough to reduce cases of severe malaria although it is generally not very effective and its effect also wanes rapidly,” Odubanjo said.
“This means that we must not abandon the other tools.
Reporting provided by Jacqueline Howard and Lauren Moorhouse of CNN.
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