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Vaccine Reduces Malaria By 54 Percent In African Children

By Chukwuma Muanya
25 April 2015   |   5:04 am
HOPE for an effective vaccine for malaria was boosted yesterday by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria with the release of the results of a large-scale trial of a malaria vaccine candidate in sub-Saharan Africa.
Children of North East

Children of North East

HOPE for an effective vaccine for malaria was boosted yesterday by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria with the release of the results of a large-scale trial of a malaria vaccine candidate in sub-Saharan Africa.

The phase three trial of the RTS,S malaria vaccine candidate, which was released ahead of the World Malaria Day, today April 25, 2015, showed a 54 percent reduction in cases of clinical malaria over the first year of follow-up and a 36 percent reduction in clinical malaria over a 48 month period among sub-Saharan African children vaccinated between five to 17 months old who received four doses of the vaccine.

According to a press statement by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, on average across the trial sites, more than 1,700 cases of clinical malaria were averted per 1,000 children vaccinated.

The trial was conducted across 11 research centres in seven African countries in partnership with GSK and the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative.

The results suggest a malaria vaccine could eventually have a role alongside mosquito nets, indoor spraying, prompt diagnostic testing, effective anti-malarial medicines and other tools in reducing the disease’s impact among children in sub-Saharan Africa.

Responding to the new results, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Dr. Seth Berkley, said: “Given the huge disease burden of malaria in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa where it kills hundreds of thousands of children every year, today’s results will be of enormous interest to everyone aiming to improve the health of the world’s poorest people.”

Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

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