Current Affairs

Issue

 The World Health Organisation (WHO) has endorsed RTS,S/ASO1 (RTS.S) vaccine, better known as Mosquirix.

 

Background

Mosquirix is the only vaccine till now to show efficacy against reducing malaria, and life-threatening severe malaria in children.

 

Details

• The vaccine has been tested among children of Africa. The vaccine targets P. falciparum, the most deadly malaria parasite globally.

• Initial studies showed that the vaccine was able to prevent approximately 4 in 10 cases of malaria over a 4-year period.

• The vaccine has received very favourable response from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and becomes the first malaria vaccine to complete the clinical development process.

• Currently, countries such as Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi have included the vaccine in their childhood immunization programmes to provide protection against the deadly disease.

• Along with other methods, this vaccine can be administered in areas where malaria is highly seasonal and spreads over a short period.

 

Administering

The malaria vaccine should be administered in a schedule of 4 doses in children from 5 months of age. It will enhance the already existing malaria toolkit.

 

Malaria burden

• Malaria is a parasitic disease that is caused due to biting of female Anopheles mosquitoes. The disease is life-threatening.

• Children below the age of five years are most vulnerable to disease. They account for 67% of all malaria deaths worldwide.

 

Malaria-free countries

Number of countries becoming malaria-free is gradually increasing. A country has to record at least 3 consecutive years of zero indigenous cases of malaria to get certification of malaria elimination.

 

Recent countries

• United Arab Emirates (2007)

• Morocco (2010)

• Turkmenistan (2010)

• Armenia (2011)

• Sri Lanka (2016)

• Kyrgyzstan (2016)

• Paraguay (2018)

• Uzbekistan (2018)

• Algeria (2019)

• Argentina (2019)

• El Salvador (2021)