Health
Pedro Alonso, director of the World Health Organization, WHO, Global Malaria Programme, has said that the first malaria vaccine has been discovered.
Alonso made this known while speaking at the virtual press briefing on zero malaria organized by the WHO on Wednesday, April, 21.
The press briefing was to discuss the achievements made so far in the fight against malaria in preparation for the world malaria day scheduled for Sunday, April 25.
He insisted that the WHO has not relented in its efforts towards achieving a world free of malaria.
According to him, “Malaria is to the sub-Saharan Africans; who have had to live with it for over ten thousand years, what the Covid-19 is to the high hit countries.”
While answering questions on the delay in finding a malaria vaccine as compared to the swiftness in the discovery of the Covid-19 vaccine, he likened finding a malaria vaccine to making a Ferrari, and compared creating a Covid-19 vaccine to making a bicycle.
“The world has been looking for a malaria vaccine for the last 100 years, and we have our first-generation vaccine.
“We hope this will not be the last one,” he said.
Alonso also announced that eight countries have been declared malaria-free from 2019 to 2020. They are Algeria, Uzbekistan, Paraguay, China, El Salvador, Argentina, Malaysia, and Timor-Leste.
He said that the success recorded in these countries was largely due to the various countries persistent commitment to the zero malaria programmes, and their political will to achieve a zero malaria target.
“It is possible to move from a high malaria country like china to achieve zero malaria targets.
“Nigeria can one day eliminate malaria.” He said.
India with 4 percent was among the five countries, the others being: Nigeria 25percent, Democratic Republic of the Congo 11percent, Mozambique 5 percent, and Uganda 4 percent, that accounted for nearly 50 percent of all malaria cases worldwide.
India which is very close to achieving the zero malaria targets was among the 11 countries reported to have recorded approximately 70 per cent of all malaria cases which is 151 million, and 274,000 deaths. Ten of these countries are in Africa, and they are: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, and The United Republic of Tanzania.
