2023-04-26 15:00:00
Every minute, a child dies of malaria worldwide. In 2021, MosquiRix, the first vaccine once morest this tropical disease caused by certain mosquitoes, developed and manufactured by GSK Belgium, received recognition from the WHO. A crowning achievement following 35 years of research. Since then, three countries have benefited from the vaccination of their population in children under 5 years: Ghana, Kenya and Malawi.
This Tuesday, Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib was visiting GSK – Rixensart, where MosquiRix is produced. She praised the role played by Belgium in the field of global health. “Abroad, Belgian excellence is no longer represented by beers or chocolates, but rather by the Biopharma sector”joked the minister.
Malaria affects 400,000 people worldwide, particularly children under 5 living in poor countries. Yannick Vanloubbeeck, from the immunology department at GSK: “Our vaccine targets the African strain of malaria, and shows an effectiveness of 30 to 50% on it. This is already an exceptional result but it is significantly less than the 99% effectiveness of anti-malaria drugs Research continues on a global scale, with partners committed to this fight.”
GSK is committed to producing 15 million doses per year by the end of 2028. About ten countries are applicants, but the question of the distribution of vaccines is essential. This is why a partnership was born between GSK and Unicef. This collaboration will intensify in Ghana over the next two years, GSK Managing Director Emmanuel Amory announced on Tuesday: “Because it’s not the vaccine that saves lives, it’s the vaccination.”
To date, more than 1.4 million children have received at least one dose of the vaccine as part of the malaria vaccination implementation programme.
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