“Climate change poses a significant risk to the advancement of the fight against malaria, especially in vulnerable regions. “Now more than ever, sustainable and resilient responses to malaria are needed, combined with urgent action to slow the pace of global warming and reduce its effects.” Dr. A.S. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).
In this regard, the Dr. Rogério Gaspar, director of the WHO Regulation and Prequalification Department, stated: “Achieving WHO vaccine prequalification ensures that vaccines used in global immunization programs are safe and effective within their conditions of use in recipient health systems. “WHO evaluates multiple products for prequalification each year and the core of this work is to ensure greater access to safe, effective and quality health products.”
“The R21 vaccine is the second malaria vaccine prequalified by WHO, after the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine which obtained prequalification status in July 2022. Both vaccines have been shown to be safe and effective in clinical trials in preventing malaria. malaria in children. When widely implemented, along with other recommended malaria control interventions, they are expected to have a high impact on public health. Malaria, a mosquito-borne disease, places a particularly high burden on children in the African Region, where nearly half a million children die from the disease each year. Globally, in 2022, there were an estimated 249 million cases of malaria and 608,000 malaria deaths in 85 countries.” OMS
For its part, the Dr Kate O’Brien, Director of the Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals, WHO, commented: “Today we mark a major step in global health by welcoming the prequalification of R21/Matrix-M, the second malaria vaccine recommended for children in malaria-endemic areas. “This achievement underscores our relentless commitment to eradicating malaria, which remains a formidable enemy causing child suffering and death. “This is another step in ensuring a healthier, more resilient future for those who have lived for too long in fear of what malaria could cause.”
2024-01-09 00:08:56
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