WHO approves use of world’s first malaria vaccine for children
Recommended for Secondary Grades
On 6 October, the World Health Organization (WHO) says it has recommended widespread use of the world’s first malaria vaccine for children.
The vaccine is called the RTS,S/AS01 or Mosquirix vaccine. And was developed by British medicine makes GlaxoSmithKline. It is already part of an ongoing programme in child health clinics across Ghana, Kenya and Malawi in Africa.
The programme launched in 2019 and has reached over 800,000 children. It has shown that the world’s first malaria vaccine for children is safe, cheap, easy to deliver and reduced deadly severe malaria by about 30%. WHO said the vaccine could save thousands of children every year.
The world’s first malaria vaccine for children
WHO says that the vaccine could be used to help protect children from the deadliest form of malaria (Plasmodium falciparum). The world’s first malaria vaccine for children should be given in four doses to children from 5 months old. The vaccine works by stopping the malaria parasite from maturing and multiplying in the liver. It is only after this that the parasite enters the patient’s bloodstream and trigger the disease symptoms.
Malaria is a disease caused by parasites and transmitted through the bite of female Anopheles mosquitoes. It is preventable and treatable but affects a lot of children in sub-Saharan Africa.
What is a parasite?
A parasite is a plant or an animal that lives in or on another plant or animal and gets its food from it. Parasites can cause diseases.
The first malaria vaccine for children
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