According to Roll Back Malaria, there are an estimated 300 million acute cases of malaria every year around the world, resulting in more than one million deaths. Approximately 90 percent of these deaths occur in Africa, mostly in young children. Malaria in Nigeria, according to the Nigerian Ministry of Health (MoH), is responsible for 60 percent of outpatient visits to health facilities; 30 percent of childhood deaths; 25 percent of deaths in children under one year; and 11 malaria (in the form of treatment costs, prevention, loss of man-hours, etc.) to be roughly 132 billion Naira per year (approximately $838,564,000 USD). With these staggering statistics, it is clear that health is a prerequisite for economic prosperity hence the need to rid Nigeria and the world at large of malaria. This is what PATH is out to achieve.
PATH is the leader in global health innovation. An international nonprofit organisation helping to save lives and improve health, especially among women and children. They accelerate innovation across five platforms which includes vaccines, drugs, diagnostics, devices, system & service innovations and as such, harness their entrepreneurial insight, scientific and public health expertise, and passion for health equity and MVI’s mission is to accelerate the development of malaria vaccines and catalyze timely access in endemic countries.
In support of a bold quest to rid the world entirely of malaria, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently declared an award of US$156 million to PATH to support the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative in building new vaccines that will interrupt the cycle of malaria parasite transmission and help realize the “accelerating to zero” agenda. Such vaccines would ensure that parasite reintroduction is prevented by providing what could be called an “immunological bed net.”
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The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s award to MVI is part of a more than $500 million commitment to tackling infectious diseases that the foundation announced at ASTMH’s annual meeting.
“We must remain committed to the eradication of malaria, small steps won’t get the job done. History shows that the only way to stop malaria is to end it forever. Long-range efforts to achieve eradication must not distract donors and endemic countries from the immediate objective of saving lives now.” ,” Gates said.
“At MVI, we think it’s time to turn the tables on this disease and to rid the world of it entirely,” said Ashley Birkett, PhD, director of MVI and adds “To do this, however, will require new and improved tools. Vaccines are likely to provide the best opportunity to complement drugs and vector-control measures in reducing transmission to zero, and they are the single most important intervention for preventing reintroduction. We know from history that vaccine-induced community immunity can eliminate or significantly reduce the threat of infectious diseases—just look at smallpox, polio, measles, mumps, and more recently meningitis A.”
This approach to developing malaria vaccines goes beyond preventing malaria illness to preventing infection and transmission of the parasite. People living in regions affected by malaria often develop natural immunity, and while they may not show symptoms of malaria following subsequent infections, they often harbor parasites and transmit them to mosquitoes, which in turn infect other people. To accelerate future elimination and eradication efforts, vaccines are needed that induce immunity to prevent humans from becoming infected and to shrink the human parasite reservoir. MVI’s two-pronged strategy is to develop vaccines that prevent people from becoming infected after being bitten by infected mosquitoes (anti-infection vaccines, or AIVs) and that prevent mosquitoes from becoming infected, even after feeding on an infected person (transmission-blocking vaccines, or TBVs). Vaccines that combine these two attributes will be of particular focus.
“This new grant for the MVI program will help ensure that PATH can continue its effort to implement an organization-wide strategy aimed at supporting control, then elimination, and ultimately eradication of malaria. We think that malaria vaccines are key to success against malaria, and I am deeply appreciative of the Gates Foundation’s confidence in our ability to make a contribution in this area.” said Steve Davis, PATH’s president and CEO.
MVI’s near-term goal is to advance at least one malaria vaccine candidate through early-stage field trials and have the evidence to declare a candidate for product development as early as the end of 2017.
Kemi Ajumobi
