… announces new vaccine to be out in 2018
Against the backdrop of the World Malaria Day today, the World Health Organisation has said that global efforts in the last 15 years have cut the malaria death toll by 62 percent between 2000 and 2015.
WHO also reports that new malaria cases fell by 21 percent between 2010 and 2015 worldwide and death rates fell by 29 percent in the same 5-year period.
Malaria kills around 430,000 people a year, the vast majority of them babies and young children in sub-Saharan Africa.
According to the statistics from the Nigerian National Malaria Strategic Plan 2014-2020, malaria 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 percent of maternal deaths.
The statistics showed that nine in 10 persons are at risk of malaria in Nigeria which accounts for 25 percent of malaria cases in Africa.
Further strides in curbing malaria will see Ghana, Kenya and Malawi serve as pilot countries for the world’s first malaria vaccine from 2018. In the plan announced by WHO, the vaccine will be offered to babies and children in high-risk areas as part of real-life trials.
