Malaria, which is common especially in Africa and spread by mosquitoes, causes the death of hundreds of thousands of people every year. But until now, there was no approved vaccine for this deadly disease.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has approved the widespread use of the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine developed for malaria, which causes the death of adults and especially children, in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Can change the fate of the world
Speaking about the importance of the vaccine at the conference held at WHO’s headquarters in Geneva, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “I have longed to see the day when an effective vaccine against this ancient and terrible disease is developed.” Stating that no progress has been made in the fight against malaria in recent years, Ghebreyesus said, “Every year, there are over 200 million cases and 400 thousand losses. Unfortunately, two-thirds of these deaths are children.” He reminded how serious the disease was.
Stating that there is still a long way to go in the fight against malaria, the WHO Director-General said, “This vaccine is a gift to the world, but its value will be felt most in Africa, as it is the continent where malaria is most severe.”
Pilot application completed successfully
Phase 3 studies were completed in 2017 and pilot implementation of the vaccine started in Malawi in East Africa in 2019. Following the approval of the WHO, the Global Vaccine and Vaccination Association (GAVI) RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine is expected to be approved for use and the doses will be procured and distributed to countries.
Malaria is a fatal disease transmitted by the bites of mosquitoes carrying a parasite called plasmodium, and after an average incubation period of 7 days, it has side effects such as fever, chills, sweating, headache and nausea.
Malaria, which is one of the deadly diseases, causes the death of a child every 2 minutes and causes the death of an average of 500 thousand people every year.
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