Tests Of Malaria Vaccine Positive
Clinical trial of a malaria vaccine, RTSS, on children at Kintampo and Agogo has showed that the vaccine is safe for use by children, Dr Kwaku Poku Asante, a research scientist, has told journalists in Accra. He, however, explained that the vaccine will undergo the third phase trial by the Kintampo Health Research Centre (KHRC) for the next three years, to determine its efficacy before it is integrated into the Expanded Programme of Immunization.
Dr Asante, a clinical research fellow at the reseach centre, was updating journalists on the vaccine's trial at a seminar organised by the Africa Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN) to mark World Malaria Day on Saturday.
World Malaria Day, initially celebrated as African Malaria Day, is set aside each year to press home the devastating effects of the disease and to, among others things, remind governments of the need for political commitment to reduce the burden of the disease on the population and the economy.
He said about 2,500 children in Kintampo and Agogo would be recruited to participate in the third trial in the Ghana. Another 16,000 children across the continent would be involved. The vaccine is under study in Kenya, Gabon and Mozambique, among other countries.
Dr Asante said the RTSS which was developed by GlaxoSmithKline Institute of Belgium in 1987, was the only vaccine, among others on trial across the world, to graduate to the third phase. The vaccine meets international standards set by the World Health Organization.
The search for a vaccine to curb the incidence of malaria, which is estimated to kill one Africa child every 30 seconds, started in 1984 but there is no known vaccine yet.
Dr Asante explained that malaria vaccines go through rigorous trials in four phases to determine their safety, efficacy and effectiveness before being registered by the relevant regulatory agencies for use by the general population.
The first phase has already been carried out on animals and with the second phase showing the safety of the vaccine, Dr Asante said he was optimistic that a vaccine would be discovered to complement other efforts in the reduction of the malaria burden which accounts for 20 per cent of childhood deaths and about 40 per cent of out-patient attendance at health institutions in Ghana.
Dr George Obeng-Adjei of the University of Ghana Medical School, said that in the absence of a readily available vaccine for malaria, chemotherapy involving the use of drugs, remained the most important strategy for the treatment of malaria.
The country currently uses a combination of artesunate amodiaquine as a first line of treatment for the uncomplicated aspect of the disease.
Dr Daniel Ansong of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and a research fellow in the vaccine trial, said delays in seeking treatment, ineffective treatment and failure by untrained medical personnel to recognise complications accounted for the severity of the disease in children.
He explained that anaemia and convulsion were some of the manifestations of the severity of the disease in children.
Mrs Charity Binka, Executive Secretary of AMMREN, said the story on malaria could best be told by African journalists, and reminded them to play advocacy role to curb the incidence of the disease on the continent.
The journalists expressed the need for scientists and other stakeholders in the fight against the disease to collaborate in information sharing and dessimination to the public.