There is still hope for a breakthrough in finding a vaccine to fight against Malaria, lead investigator Professor Francis Martinson of University of North Carolina (UNC), a centre researching on the vaccine in the country, has said.
Martinson, also director for UNC said on Wednesday in Lilongwe ahead of today’s activities marking the World Malaria Day that UNC is researching on a vaccine called RTS,S.
“While these results are very encouraging, they should be understood as an initial indication of vaccine performance generated in infants six to 12 weeks of age when administered in conjunction with expanded programme on immunisation (EPI) vaccines.
Currently, there are 15 460 children in seven countries who are taking part in the vaccine study. The countries are Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.
Malawi started screening and enrolment activities on July 30 2009 at George Joaki Centre in Lilongwe. Malawi is contributing the largest number of children under the study.
“We have 1 626 children representing about a third of the total research,” added Martinson.
Currently, there is no vaccine for malaria.
