As stated in class, recently, a malaria vaccine has been discovered. This article is about the first trial runs of the vaccine in 11 parts of sub-saharan Africa. At this point, it has shown that children who get the vaccine from 6-12 months of age have approximately a 50% chance of gaining immunity. Looking at the numbers, the values can seem small; 50% basically means one in every two people will gain immunity. It doesn’t seem like a lot, especially when compared to rotobacter vaccines which have a success rate from 70 to 90 percent. However, when looking at the big picture, it’s going to save about 106 million people from coming down with malaria, and about 400,000 from dying; and those are annual numbers, JUST IN AFRICA (though the total numbers aren’t too far off .
Getting to this point cost over $300 million dollars and decades of research. This actually was interesting because $300 million really isn’t that much compared to what most mega-corporations receive annually, or even what the government generates annually. For example, years ago, there was a 700 billion dollar bailout from the US government to big businesses. Remember that the U.S. government is actually in incredulous amounts of debt. Approximately .0004% of the money the US gave for the bailout to create a vaccine that would save approximately 400,000 people from dying annually. . Imagine if all the countries in the UN diverted resources of that magnitude towards reaching the MDGs; or even, just developing and distributing vaccinations. Financially, there should be no excuse why we haven’t reached our MDGs yet, all it should take is time; however, looking at the numbers, we should not be this far behind.
Cost always appears to be an issue when looking at public health initiatives. Countries are generally interested in investing money where it directly benefits them or where they have they may have the greatest financial return. Though the development of the malaria vaccine should appear to be financially feasible, there needs to be a stronger push within the public sector for better allocation of resources. The malaria vaccine is not only essential to individuals in Sub-Saharan Africa, but also to central America and many individuals that frequently travel. If our resources were better allocated, there should be much quicker development to the much needed vaccine.
ReplyDeleteMalaria vaccine is a great step forward for global health. The vaccine if distributed to enough people will make a great impact on health especially in developing countries. The vaccines needs to be widely distributed for effective use.
ReplyDeleteDespite only showing a 50% success rate among children 6-12 months, it is a great accomplishment in this region of the world where population is greatly increasing. The discovery of the malaria vaccine has the potential to further more decrease the child mortality rate and meet the desired MDG in 2015. The constant funding for this project brings a bright future for the developing nations in the world. Upon mass distribution, the quality of life can be improved.
ReplyDeleteThe malaria vaccines actually save a lot of children in Africa, even only 50% chance of gaining immunity. But as Jeffery mention when looking at the big picture, it’s going to save about 106 million people from coming down with malaria, and about 400,000 from dying; and those are annual numbers. This project should continue get fund in the future, so we can get closer to meet the MDG in 2015. Help reduce the child mortality rate is one of the goal of the MDG .If this work very well in the future, people can use it in other developing nation, which improve children’s life quality.
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