Africa must be ready for malaria vaccine
05/11/2009
As scientists seem to be closer to discover a malaria vaccine, African governments need to be ready to make the treatment available to millions, according to Professor Wilfred Mbacham, a public health biotechnologist from the University of Yaounde in Cameroon.
"As we pursue a breakthrough in the development of the vaccine, we need to begin speaking to African governments telling them how they should prepare to receive the vaccine," Mr Mbacham was quoted by AllAfrica.com.
He added that African governments needed to prepare policy which would facilitate the inclusion of this vaccine into the Expanded Programme on Immunisation. The academic also said that African nations would have to start thinking about funding and how they would access the vaccine.
There were 247 million cases of malaria in 2006, causing nearly one million deaths, mostly among African children, according to estimates by the World Health Organization.
Written by Javier Espinoza
