The World Health Organization (WHO) has added the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine to its list of ‘prequalified’ vaccines, paving the way for bulk procurement and mass deployment of the new vaccine across malaria-endemic countries by UNICEF and other global health agencies. The prequalification of the world’s second malaria vaccine, developed by Oxford University and manufactured by […] Continue reading ->
The WHO has officially recommended a second malaria vaccine for children, the R21/Matrix-M, co-developed by researchers at Oxford University and the Serum Institute of India. Global rollout could greatly improve access to immnization against a disease that kills over 600,000 people a year, 96% in Africa. But experts stress that vaccines can complement — but […] Continue reading ->
Mayors and other municipal officials should develop “urban heat maps” to identify and protect those most vulnerable to high temperatures, World Health Organization (WHO) official Maria Neira urged on Wednesday. Many people in urban areas stifling under heat waves cannot afford cooling systems while conditions for outdoor workers not protected by legislation have become dangerous, […] Continue reading ->
The number of dengue cases in the Americas has surpassed three million this year, as climate change makes people more vulnerable to the disease and the world more hospitable to the mosquitoes that carry it. Rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns are providing a boon to the Aedis aegypti mosquito, the main carrier of dengue. […] Continue reading ->
Brazil is the first country in the world to introduce tafenoquine, the first new single-dose treatment for P. vivax malaria developed in 70 years, in its public health system. Raquel da Silva has lived in Manaus in Brazil’s Amazonas State since her childhood. Today she shares her home on the banks of the Rio Negro […] Continue reading ->
African leaders must take the lead in the fight against Neglected Tropical Diseases, invest in their control and elimination, and foster cross-border collaboration to achieve the goal of eliminating NTDs as public health concerns by 2030. Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) continue to pose a significant threat to the health and well-being of millions of people […] Continue reading ->
Twenty-two months after the world’s first malaria vaccine RTS,S was approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), 12 countries in Africa will soon receive 18 million doses. A second, arguably more efficient, vaccine against malaria is currently in the queue for WHO approval. Meanwhile, distribution of the 18 million RTS,S doses is to be carried […] Continue reading ->
For years, malaria has ruled mercilessly in certain regions of the world. Especially in Africa. Yet over the past decade, despite the absence of a malaria vaccine, one anti-malarial strategy sought to make a difference: more than 700 million doses of Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) were distributed to young children, globally. The evidence is now […] Continue reading ->
The momentum from last week’s World Malaria Day needs to translate into more resources to address the global funding shortfall to achieve 2030 malaria targets. Since the turn of the century, global partnership and sustained investment have completely transformed the fight against malaria – preventing two billion malaria cases, saving 11.7 million lives, and putting […] Continue reading ->
IBADAN, Nigeria – There are high hopes that the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine recently approved by Ghana and Nigeria will be manufactured in Africa in the not-to-distant future – a brighter-than-usual prospect for this World Malaria Day (25 April). Earlier this month, Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) approved the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine manufactured by the […] Continue reading ->