[ad_1]
“The vaccine saves lives but it will not be a quick fix,” said Dr Githinji Gitahi, CEO of Amref Health Africa, a non-governmental organization.
The vaccine, called Mosquirix, targets Africa’s deadliest and most common malaria parasite – Plasmodium falciparum. While vaccines are a “huge addition to the fight” against malaria, said Dr Gitahi, health officials will still need to roll out “a Swiss cheese strategy,” which includes insecticide-treated mosquito nets and spraying. indoor.
Faith Walucho is the mother of an 11 month old child who was recently diagnosed with malaria. The 29-year-old used clothing trader in the town of Kisumu, western Kenya, said she received the news of the vaccines “with great happiness.” In Kenya, an estimated 10,700 malaria deaths are recorded each year, and Kisumu, on the shores of Lake Victoria, is one of the areas with high malaria prevalence where the vaccine has been tested.
As soon as she was able to get a dose for her daughter, Ms. Walucho said, “I’m going to run” to get it.
In Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe, Jenala Mwafulirwa, a 52-year-old mother of five, welcomed the news of the vaccine, saying too many children in her family had been lost to the disease, especially in areas rural areas where access to health care is limited.
“This vaccine came at the right time,” she said.
But in some places, people have expressed skepticism about the vaccine, in part because of distrust of the World Health Organization.
“I wonder why they want to help Africa,” said Mamadou Tounkara, a 40-year-old teacher in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. He asked why WHO did not fund better hygiene and sanitation systems instead. “If the WHO wants to help eradicate this disease, it can do so without a vaccine. “
Yet public health officials say the vaccine, which has been in development for more than 30 years, has already proven to be an important weapon in the war on disease.
[ad_2]
Source link