“Médecins Sans Frontières welcomes and encourages innovation that responds to neglected diseases that primarily affect people in the developing world; such innovation is desperately needed.”
“Malaria claims nearly 800,000 deaths each year, 85% of whom are children aged five or under in Africa. An effective malaria vaccine that offers children real protection against the potentially deadly malaria parasite would in that case be a welcome breakthrough.”
“But the results of the RTS,S/AS01 Malaria Vaccine study show only a moderate effect on preventing malaria or its complications. Children who were vaccinated with RTS,S experienced only 30% fewer episodes of malaria and only 26% fewer episodes of the severe form of the disease. It means that the level of protection offered against contracting severe malaria and reducing potential deaths is unfortunately still unacceptably low.”
“Developing a malaria vaccine that can really protect against contracting or dying from the disease is crucial for millions of children around the world. But, such a vaccine needs to have high levels of durable protection; it needs to be affordable; and it needs to have minimal transport and storage requirements, so that we can use it effectively in the conditions in which MSF works.”
“While we look forward to seeing further development of this vaccine and others to improve the level of protection against this killer disease, efforts to prevent the spread of malaria and provide the best treatment must continue in the meantime.”
– Dr Jennifer Cohn, Medical Coordinator, Médecins Sans Frontières Access Campaign.
