MALAWI ROLLS OUT AFRICA'S FIRST MALARIA VACCINE.

Lilongwe, MALAWI:
As the World Health Organization marks World Malaria Day, April 25, Malawi has launched the pilot phase of Africa's first ever malaria vaccine.

The WHO chose Malawi, alongside Ghana and Kenya, because of the high numbers of malaria cases and treatment facilities. The pilot phase aims to vaccinate 360,000 children per year, 120,000 of them in Malawi. But, while the vaccine is expected to save thousands of lives, its effectiveness is limited.

Health officials at Malawi's Likuni Community Hospital are giving children injections of Africa's first malaria vaccine.

A medical worker at Likuni Community Hospital, in Lilongwe, Malawai, draws the malaria vaccine into a syringe for vaccination.
Image: VOA.

The mosquito-spread disease kills more than 430,000 people per year, most of them African children.

It took more than 30 years and nearly $1 billion to develop a vaccine against malaria.

Known as RTS-S, the vaccine is only helpful for children younger than 2 who receive four doses, at the ages of 5 months, 6 months, 7 months and 22 months.

Michael Kayange is Malawi's deputy director of health.

“After we did clinical trials, we had several age groups that we looked at. This vaccine was seen to be very, very effective in children aged between 5 months and 22 months. In other age groups it didn't show any usefulness,” he said.

A long line of mothers brought their children to Tuesday's launch of the pilot phase of the World Health Organization-approved vaccine.

Mothers queue to have their children vaccinated against malaria at Likuni Community Hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi.

Malawi's mothers like Fanny Kaphamtengo are excited about the vaccine's potential.

She says malaria is a deadly and killer disease for not only children but adults as well. Although she has other children who are not vaccinated, Kaphamtengo says she feels lucky to have her new baby protected from malaria.

Testing between 2009 and 2014 showed the vaccine reduces clinical malaria cases by 40 percent and severe malaria cases by 30 percent. But it also caused a 60 percent reduction in severe malaria anemia, the most common reason children die from malaria.

Kayange says Malawians will still need to take precautions to avoid their children getting ill from malaria.

“This new vaccine is just an additional tool to the control and elimination of malaria in the country,” he said. “So, whoever will get this vaccine, all the children who get the vaccine, we encourage them to use other malaria prevention methods like sleeping under mosquito nets, going to hospital quickly when they have fevers and body aches.”

Despite its only partial protection from malaria, the vaccine could save millions of lives in Malawi, Kayange said.

The pilot project will be launched in Ghana and Kenya next week.

The WHO will use the results to inform policy advice before the vaccine is rolled-out in other malaria-hit countries.

SOURCE:VOA.

Comments

CUBA CLAIMS CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER IS FIDEL CASTRO'S SON.

The suicide note left by Fidel Castro’s eldest son has rocked the Cuban nation this week, with the most astonishing revelation being the claim that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was his half-brother and the son of the late Fidel Castro. The handwritten note left by Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, 68, the eldest of Fidel Castro’s children, appears to confirm the longstanding rumor in Cuba that Fidel Castro fathered Justin Trudeau after a public tryst with Margaret Trudeau in 1970. “ Castro Diaz-Balart, who had been attended by a group of doctors for several months due to a state of profound depression, committed suicide this morning ,” Cubadebate website reported. The death of the high-profile government nuclear scientist, also known as “Fidelito”, or Little Fidel, because of how much he looked like his father, stunned the nation, however it is his “ explosive ” suicide note that has set tongues wagging in Havana. Amid a wide-ranging barrage of compl...

ZAMBIA TO BAN FOREIGNERS FROM OWNING LAND.

Zambian Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mrs.Jean Kapata. Image: LT. The Zambian government has proposed to ban the ownership of land by foreigners. The government is also seeking to review existing long term leases and the land in question cannot be disposed of, sold or exchanged without prior consultation with and approval by the government. In its draft policy unveiled by Lands Minister Jean Kapata, the government hopes to regulate access to land by non-Zambians. The state wants to restrict ownership of land, both state and customary to Zambians only. If the policy is adopted, it will only provide for sub-leasing and or renting of land only by non Zambians. This is the first comprehensive land policy framework since Zambia’s independence. To date, land policy was in form of Ministerial Statements in Parliament, Presidential pronouncements and the Administrative Circular No 1, 1985 that has guided the system of land allocation and the Lands ...

WOMAN WHO HAD 44 CHILDREN BY 36 YEARS-OLD BANNED FROM HAVING MORE BABIES.

Kampala, UGANDA: Mariam Nabatanzi had her first set of twins when she was just 13 and has since had another five sets, three sets of quads and four sets of triplets Mariam Nabatanzi suffers from a rare genetic condition and had given birth to 44 children by the age of 36. Tragically, Mariam has been left to raise her massive family alone after her husband walked out on her almost four years ago. Now 40, doctors have taken action to stop Mariam having more children after it emerged her father had 45 children with several different women. Mariam has three sets of quadruplets, four sets of triplets and six sets of twins and incredibly manages to care for and feed them all on her own. The fertile mum was just 12 when she was married to her husband, who at 40 was 28 years her senior. Just a year later she gave birth to her first set of twins. Now, she and all of her kids have no choice to live in appallingly cramped conditions in just four ...

ZIMBABWEAN SOLDIERS TRADE GUNS FOR GUITARS.

Harare, ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwe National Army Mechanised Brigade Inkomo Barracks music outfit Crocodile Sounds on Friday night traded their guns for guitars as they launched their debut nine-track album, Garwe Rauya, at Old Hararians Sports Club in Harare. The guest of honour at the poorly-attended launch, chief-of-staff (administration) Paul Chima dismissed claims that the name Crocodile Sounds was associated with President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is also known as Ngwena. “The name Crocodile is apolitical as it resembles the emblem of Mechanised Brigade which is the crocodile. Most of you may think that we are saying Garwe Rauya because of the political situation that is attuning in the country,” He said. The Mechanised Brigade played a critical role in the military takeover which saw the removal of former President Robert Mugabe in November last year with armoured vehicles rolled from Inkomo to Harare CBD on the day. Chima said the unveiling of the album ...

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT DEADLY LISTERIOSIS.

CAPE TOWN: Thirty-six people have died in South Africa from an outbreak of the food-borne disease listeriosis , the country’s Department of Health said on Tuesday. Cause Listeriosis is a serious but rare infection, mainly caused by eating food contaminated with the bacteria listeria monocytogenes which is found in soil, water and vegetation. It is usually present in raw milk and other dairy products. People usually contract it through animal products and fresh fruits and vegetables. Listeria can thrive in cold temperatures and the only way to kill these bacteria is cooking and pasteurisation. Symptoms of listeriosis The disease causes flu-like symptoms and can lead to nausea, diarrhoea, infection of the bloodstream and brain. Risk factors of listeria infection Pregnant women, the elderly or individuals with a weakened immune system, i.e. people in immuno-compromised status due to HIV/Aids, leukaemia, cancer, kidney transplant and steroid therapy, are ...

NAMIBIA VOWS TO GRAB FARMS FROM WHITE FARMERS.

Okahandja, NAMIBIA: Vibrant rows of neatly lined plants grow on a patch once trampled by the cattle of a large commercial farm run by a family of German descent in Namibia. From that 2,400 square-meter rectangle of sand in the northern Otjozondjupa region, Kornelius Hamasab, 69, now produces spinach, onions and tomatoes. Hamasab is among the 16 percent of black Namibians owning arable land in the semi-desert southwest African nation. White Namibians, who are descended from former colonizers Germany and South Africa and make up six percent of the population, own 70 percent of the land. "It doesn't seem right to me," said Hamasab, who acquired his land as compensation five years after the farm downsized into a guesthouse in 2000 and laid off its staff. "The government should do something about it," he added, while his family picked and rinsed collared greens to be sold in the capital Windhoek, 150 kilometers away. Namibia adopted ...

MINERS IN NAMIBIA DISCOVER SHIPWRECK LOADED $13 MILLION WORTH OF GOLD.

Image: Dieter Noli. Diamond miners working off the coast of Africa were beyond surprised when they discovered a 500-year-old shipwreck teeming with gold worth $13 million and other treasures. The ship, aptly named ‘Bom Jesus’ or ‘Good Jesus,’ was like a miracle to the miners. Bom Jesus was first identified and discovered by geologists working for the mining company De Beers in 2008. It was found off the coast of Namibia near Oranjemund. Image: Dieter Noli. According to experts, Bom Jesus is from the Golden era of Portuguese explorers who set sail in all directions in search of new lands to colonize. The ship left Lisbon in 1533 under the supervision of Sir Francisco de Noronha. But on its way to India, it mysteriously vanished. Before the discovery, the miners were draining an artificial salt lake. As the lake dried out, many lost ships were found at the bottom of the lake. Bom Jesus was among them, and it is considered the oldest of all ...

MISS THAILAND CALLED ‘UGLY’ AND ‘NEGRO’ BY GOVERNMENT SUPPORTERS.

Pacharaporn “Nam” Chantarapadit is crowned as the Miss Grand Thailand 2020 on Sept. 20, 2020. Image: Khaosod. Bangkok, THAILAND: The winner of Miss Grand Thailand 2020 pageant contest came under fire Monday from pro-establishment netizens for siding with the anti-government protests. Pacharaporn “Nam” Chantarapadit, 22, was crowned the winner on Sunday night after a round of question-and-answer section, in which contestants were asked for their opinions about the protest that was unfolding in Bangkok’s historic quarter. The winners of Miss Grand Thailand 2020 competition. Image: Khaosod. “From my heart, I pick the protesters,” Nam, who represented Rayong, said. “We have rights to express our views and we want to choose what’s best for our country. More than that, I want to say to the government.” She went on in English, “If you calling this country Thailand, we need a real democracy. And moreover, we need you to get out of the country!” Watch the Video below: Supporter...

ALBERT EINSTEIN'S PRIVATE DIARIES REVEAL HIS RACIST VIEWS.

Newly translated into English, Albert Einstein’s private travel diaries from the 1920s reveal that he was racist in his early life, especially toward Chinese people. The diaries were written between October 1922 and March 1923. In one entry Einstein wrote that the “Chinese don’t sit on benches while eating but squat like Europeans do when they relieve themselves out in the leafy woods. All this occurs quietly and demurely. Even the children are spiritless and look obtuse.” Speaking about the “abundance of offspring” and the “fecundity” of the Chinese, he continued: “It would be a pity if these Chinese supplant all other races. For the likes of us the mere thought is unspeakably dreary.” Einstein also derided the people of Ceylon, which is now known as Sri Lanka. In Ceylon, he wrote, the locals “live in great filth and considerable stench at ground level,” before adding they “do little and need little. The simple economic cycle of life.” Einstein also gave his thou...

THE HISTORIC HANDSHAKE BETWEEN KIM JONG UN & TRUMP.

SINGAPORE : President Trump and Kim Jong-un of North Korea shook hands at the start of their first face-to-face meeting Tuesday, a momentous step in an improbable courtship that has opened a new chapter for the world’s largest nuclear power and the most reclusive one. Tap To Watch The Video Below: Brash, impulsive leaders who only a few months ago taunted each other across a nuclear abyss, Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim had set aside their threats in a gamble that for now, at least, personal diplomacy can overcome decades of distrust. In a carefully choreographed encounter, Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim greeted each other in the red-carpeted reception area of a Singapore hotel built on the site of a British colonial outpost — the first time a sitting American president and North Korean leader have ever met. After photographs, the two men, alone except for their interpreters, were scheduled to meet privately to try to resolve the crisis over North Korea’s nuclear program. ...

Kioo17 Journal

Search This Blog