Ghana's attack on the devastation of malaria



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So, when she learned that a new vaccine was being deployed against the disease, that she was killing a child every two minutes around the world, she was one of the first to register his little girl.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 219 million people were infected with malaria in 2017, more than 90% of them in Africa.

In Ghana alone, 5.5 million cases of malaria were confirmed last year and many more are suspected.

Blessing, the six-month-old Aguanyi's daughter, received the first injection, along with 360,000 other children under two years old in Ghana, Malawi and Kenya, three countries participating in the historic vaccination campaign.

Children are particularly vulnerable to the deadly mosquito-borne disease, and babies were the first to receive a vaccine in Ghana last month in the southern Cape Coast city, 150 kilometers away. west of the capital, Accra.

Blessing will have three more doses up to two years of age as part of the program, which will allow health officials to evaluate the effectiveness of the vaccine.

Aguanyi said that she would urge other parents to bring their children to free jab.

"Due to financial constraints, some are waiting for the situation of their child to be critical," said Aguanyi.

"When they bring them to the hospital, the child will be very weak, or even die."

30 years of research

Known as its laboratory RTS, S, the vaccine is the result of more than three decades of development and an investment of nearly a billion dollars (890 million euros).

It was developed by UK pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline in partnership with the PATH Vaccine Vaccine Initiative and funded by the public-private partnership for Gavi Health.

The vaccine is an additional tool in the fight against malaria, but is not a quick fix.

It was found that this vaccine prevented about four out of ten cases of malaria, according to WHO, which is helping the Ghana Ministry of Health to roll out the vaccine.

Traditional preventive measures remain crucial, such as sleeping under insecticide-treated mosquito nets, spraying an insecticide into the rooms and eliminating puddles of stagnant water beloved by mosquitoes for breeding.

For doctors who see the impact of malaria on children every day, the vaccine is a big step forward.

"Keep Africa poor"

Ellen Apraku, a nurse, explained to parents waiting when to come back for the latest injections.

She and her fellow doctors expressed hope that the vaccine could one day replicate the success of the polio vaccine.

"I hope this will help us eliminate malaria, so that Ghana can be a malaria-free country," said Judge Arthur, the physician in charge of the Cape Coast Clinic.

If the campaign is expanded, it will be a good starting point for vaccinating children and a way for doctors to also help prevent parent infection, said the doctor.

Sabina Atta also brought her six-month-old daughter Susanna to vaccinate her.

"If we stop it from the start, it will help," she said.

Malaria has killed 435,000 people worldwide in 2017, according to WHO.

"Malaria is one of the oldest and most devastating documented diseases in our history," said Owen Kaluwa, chief of the WHO in Ghana.

"We in Africa are the most affected."

Malaria is transmitted to people by mosquitoes, who transmit the parasite by sucking the blood of humans.

"The disease is undermining our productivity and prosperity," Kaluwa said. "It keeps our people poor."

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