Hello and welcome!
Today in the Kura Bari programme we are discussing malaria, a life-threatening disease that remains a major public health issue and is the main cause of death, particularly among infants, children under the age of five, pregnant women and patients with HIV/Aids.
According to the World Health Organisation, every two minutes a child under five dies from malaria. More than 260,000 African children under the age of five die from malaria annually.
More than half of malaria deaths worldwide are in six sub-Saharan African countries and almost a quarter are in Nigeria alone.
The news of the first malaria vaccine approved for use in children has come as a great relief for mothers, so many of whom have lost their children to the disease.
Findings from the vaccine pilot showed it “significantly reduces severe malaria which is the deadly form by 30%,” said Kate O’Brien, director of the World Health Organisation’s Department of Immunisation, Vaccines and Biologicals.
But not everyone trusts the vaccine and it is uncertain whether people will allow their children to get inoculated when it is made available.
In the past there has been scepticism about the efficacy of many other important vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccine and polio immunisation, when they were introduced in the northeast of Nigeria.
Or guests are:
- Dr Lawi Mshelia, Borno State’s director of public health; and
- Dr Umar Ali, a consultant at the Humanitarian Clinic and Treatment Centre.
