<
https://www.afro.who.int/countries/kenya/news/beyond-numbers-real-world-impact-malaria-vaccine-kenya>
"
Caregivers, health leaders and community health volunteers reflect on malaria
vaccine implementation and how the new tool is reaching children at risk with
life-saving malaria prevention
Africa’s Lake Victoria is the world’s second largest freshwater lake and its
largest tropical lake. This awe-inspiring ecosystem supports a stunning variety
of bird, aquatic and animal species. Unfortunately, the same ecosystem is also
an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes that carry malaria.
Malaria experts refer to the areas around the lake’s shore as Kenya’s
“lake-endemic” region. Most people there have endured malaria infections, and
many have suffered terrible losses, including children, malaria’s most common
and vulnerable victims.
“When I was growing up, I suffered from several attacks of malaria, and I’ve
seen children suffer from permanent disabilities,” says Vivienne, a mother of 5
from Chemelil market, a rural village outside Kisumu town. “My 3 oldest
children suffer from frequent attacks of malaria. When that happens, they lose
their appetite, suffer from fever, diarrhea, and vomiting, and become very
weak.”
This life-long experience with malaria is the reason Vivienne and other mothers
throughout this part of Kenya were enthusiastic about the arrival in 2019 of
the world’s first malaria vaccine, RTS,S/AS01 (or RTS,S).
That year, the vaccine became available in parts of Kenya, as well as Ghana and
Malawi, in a pilot introduction through the national immunization programme,
under the WHO-coordinated Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme (MVIP). The
purpose of the pilots was to evaluate the public health use of the vaccine,
including whether caregivers would bring their children to clinics for the
4-dose regimen and the vaccine’s impact on reducing childhood illness and death
from malaria in routine use.
Nearly 4 years on, more than 1.4 million children have received the vaccine
across the 3 pilot countries, of which, 400,000 children in Kenya have received
at least their first dose."
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-rubella-south-east-asia-huma-rights-estonia-animal-canada/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
