First Anti-Malarial Vaccine:
In a historic move, the World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed the first anti-malarial vaccine.
- The WHO said that it was recommending the use of the RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S) malaria vaccine among children in sub-Saharan Africa and in other regions with moderate to high P. falciparum malaria transmission.
- The WHO’s recommendation was based on the results from an ongoing pilot programme in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi.
- The development comes at a time when the WHO and its partners have reported a stagnation in the progress against the disease that kills more than 2,60,000 African children under the age of five annually.
- Malaria remains a primary cause of childhood illness and death in sub-Saharan Africa.
- The vaccine does significantly reduce life-threatening severed malaria, but It’s not the only tool. Vaccination against #malaria does not replace or reduce the need for other measures, including bed nets against mosquitoes.
- Using this vaccine on top of existing tools to prevent malaria could save tens of thousands of young lives each year.
