African Researchers Hail Significant Funding Boost for Malaria Vaccine Research

PRESS RELEASE

Dar es Salaam/Johannesburg, 25 September 2008

African malaria research experts have welcomed today’s announcements by Roll Back Malaria (RBM) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which pledged continued support and additional funding for malaria vaccine research.

AMANET (African Malaria Network Trust), with headquarters in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania and INDEPTH Research Network (the International Network for Demographic Surveillance of Populations and their Health in Developing Countries), with headquarters in Accra, Ghana, are two African research institutions currently building research capacity and searching for a malaria vaccine. Their trial sites are spread throughout Africa, and have candidate malaria vaccines being tested in Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

Recent reports on the incidence of malaria showcase progress in providing access to short-term malaria control tools – specifically, preventive measures such as long lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) and indoor residual spraying.

Good progress is also being made in the early diagnosis and correct appropriate treatment to cure malaria particularly in children under five years of age and pregnant women; these two constitute the most vulnerable groups in much of sub-Saharan Africa.

The enhanced malaria control as envisaged in the ambitious new Global Malaria Action Plan, when successfully implemented, will reduce malaria disease burden considerably, though in the long-term, the reduction to near zero will depend on entirely new malaria control tools. There is need therefore to focus on researching, developing and deploying the next generation of efficacious malaria control tools – and especially a successful malaria vaccine.

“Africa is where malaria strikes the hardest,” says Professor Wen Kilama, the Managing Trustee of AMANET. “Some 800 000 Africans – mainly children younger than five – die from malaria each year. This is over 90% of the global mortality from malaria, according to World Malaria Report 2008.

“Malaria also compounds Africa’s poverty and slows down its socio-economic development. It costs Africa at least USD 12 billion a year in direct losses and many times more than that in lost economic growth when examined over a long term. It is thus crucial that African scientific organisations are equipped and involved in searching for new and more effective malaria control tools,” argues Professor Kilama.
“As efforts to treat and prevent malaria are continuously being frustrated because the malaria parasite and mosquitoes are increasingly resistant to medicines and insecticides, an effective vaccine against malaria will help. Vaccines, in general, are the backbone of public health interventions, especially in poor countries, where they help contain or even eradicate leading killers. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation support for next generation malaria vaccines will greatly enhance current combined global efforts against malaria,” said Professor Kilama.

Speaking at the eighth INDEPTH Annual General Meeting being held in Dar es Salaam, Dr Osman Sankoh, the Executive Director of INDEPTH Network, says that malaria vaccine research in Africa has begun to provide critical leads towards an effective malaria vaccine for Africa. Commenting on just released funding commitments, Dr Sankoh said: “Sustainability of funding is so important, as effective research in Africa entails building capacity and strengthening health facilities. We are heartened by today’s announcements made by RBM and other partners, and look forward to playing our part in the global efforts to control and eventually eradicate malaria.”

--ends

Issued on behalf of AMANET & INDEPTH

By Meropa Communications, Johannesburg, South Africa, tel +27-11-772-1000
For further information or to schedule interview, please contact:
Charles Wanga, AMANET, P +255-22-2700018 M +255-78-433-7232
Samuel Mikenga, INDEPTH, P +233 21 519 395 M +27-72-529-6769
Khomotso Makuse P +27-11-7721000 Email kgomotsom@meropa.co.za or Maria Djordjevic M +27-82-334-6192 Email mariad@meropa.co.za