Ghana’s Un-ending Battle with Malaria about to End

There is a bright light of hope for Ghana at the end of the tunnel in its un-ending battle with Malaria. In Sub-Saharan Africa malaria kills 3000 children each day and in Ghana one out of every five childhood death is attributed to malaria.

Malaria also poses a threat to the development aspirations of this country. The Minister of Health, Major Courage Quashigah highlighted this in his address at a Health Summit in Accra on the 20 th of November 2007. According to him, the nation spent $772.4 million this year in treating malaria which was equivalent to the country’s entire health budget for the year 2008 and also amount to 10% of the nation’s entire Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 2006.

Research and accurate information dissemination is paramount in ending this un-ending battle. The Kintampo Health Research Center (KHRC) in Ghana has in the past two years carried out two malaria vaccine trials. The first trial started on 30th September 2006 to April 2007 and the second started on 5th December this year. The vaccines are the RTS,S Malaria vaccines (Mal 047 vaccine and Mal 050 vaccine)

The first Malaria Trial evaluated the administration and assessment of the safety of RTS, S Malaria vaccine in children 5 to 17 months old. Vaccination of 270 recruited participants from the Kintampo North and South Districts started on 30 th September 2006 and as at April 2007 the entire recruited participants haven been vaccinated.

Study participants received between 2 to 3 doses during the period of the study as per the study protocol and the trail was for two years. All the participants were given two years of free medical care by the Center.

The Malaria Vaccine, RTS,S was created in 1987 and is being developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Biological in close collaboration with Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in the USA. The vaccine has been shown to be safe in trails with adults in the United State of America, Belgium, and Kenya as well as children in Mozambique and Gambia. The vaccine was shown to cause minor symptoms like fever and drowsiness in some children but these symptoms resolved within a few days of onset.

The KHRC center obtained four hundred and ninety (490) consents for the first trail or study from parents of the study participants and out of these two hundred and seventy (270) children between the ages of 5-17 months met the inclusion criteria after screening.

The purpose of this trail was to assess the safety and the immunogenicity of the vaccine when give at different times. After vaccination, the children were successfully followed through the Active phase of the trail (i.e. the first ten months after vaccination ) and they are now being visited on monthly basis until March 2008 and the final results for this trail is expected by mid 2008.

Months after the first vaccination, its success is shared by both participants and the Center. “I will give my child again if the center asks me to because my child is now healthy” a thankful cry from Ms. Stella Adjeiwa a mother of a participant of the first trail.


Little Dorcas after been vaccinated	Little Dorcas months after the Mal 047 Vaccination

The second trail of the same malaria vaccine was conducted by the Center in December this year. This time round the vaccine was used on infants between 6-10 weeks old. The purpose of this trial is to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the malaria vaccine when given alongside the routine EPI vaccination.

Recruitment for the study started on November 2007 in the Kintampo Districts and the same inclusion criteria were used to ensure that healthy participants were used. Participants in this trail will also benefit from free medical care from the Center for two years. The same study is being carried out in 2 other African countries ( Gabon and Tanzania).

These came to light when journalists who are members of the African Media and MalariaResearch Network (AMMREN) Ghana, paid a four-day visit to the KHRC on the 6 th to 9 th of December 2007 to acquaint themselves with new developments in the malaria trails after their last visit in January 2007.

According to Dr. Owusu Agyei, an epidemiologist and the Director of the Kintampo Health Research Center (KHRC) the results of the two trails will be ready by the end of next year and it will be analyzed to see which of the two age groups will be the best schedule to use for the administration of the malaria vaccines.

There are no licensed vaccines to prevent malaria at the moment, therefore if the vaccine is found to be safe and effective; it will complement other malaria control measures. The final phase of the trails will begin next year and it will look at the efficacy of the vaccine and how well the vaccine will be able to protect children and even when they get malaria how sever it will be on them Dr. Owusu Agyei pointed out.

This therefore means that hopefully in two years time, this bright little light at the end of the tunnel will lead Ghana and the rest of the World to a permanent solution to the malaria menace.

Madam Ishah a mother of a participant of the Mal 050 trail interacting

with media personnel from AMMREN