MOZAMBIQUE DEVELOPING PLAN TO FIGHT MALARIA

The Mozambican Health Ministry is seeking to ensure funding for its strategic plan for the fight against malaria, which includes new treatment and vaccination plans, the Mozambique News Agency reports.

Francisco Saute, the director of the national antimalaria program, told news agencies that the health ministry wants to abolish the use of chloroquine in treating malaria. The malaria parasite is now so resistant to chloroquine that many experts regard this drug as virtually useless. "We want effective modern drugs to be available everywhere in the country, even in the most remote areas," he said.

Saute also spoke at a meeting of the Malaria Vaccine Decisionmaking Framework, saying that he is optimistic that some of the malaria vaccines currently under development could be available by 2011, according to the news agency's article.

The target is that by 2015 there should be a vaccine on he market that is at least 50 percent effective, and that confers immunity to malaria for at least a year. It is hoped that by 2025 vaccines will be 80 percent efficient, providing immunity of at least four years, the Mozambique News Agency reports.

So far there are 15 candidate vaccines undergoing clinical tests. Studies of the most advanced candidate vaccine, RTS,S, have concluded that the vaccine protected a significant percentage of children against malaria. Over a follow-up period of 18 months, the vaccine was shown to reduce clinical episodes of malaria by 35 percent, and serious bouts of malaria by 45 percent, according to the article.