Two articles in Malaria World pertaining to the two countries with the largest numbers of deaths attributed to malaria caught my attention. The first is the lead article, a BBC report about vaccine rollout in Nigeria the most afflicted country with 26.8% of deaths. The article describes the roll-out of the new vaccine called R21/Matrix-M which started in two of the worst-affected states – Bayelsa and Kebbi. It is planed is to expand it to the rest of the country by next year.
R21/Matrix-M, developed by the Jenner Institute at Oxford University, uses three doses administered four weeks apart and a booster dose given after one year. In an earlier article I described that it was not tested against a true placebo, but was compared for side effects against a rabies vaccine. My email to WHO and UNICEF asking if they had any other evidence to justify dosing malnourished children in Southern Sudan with the R21 chemical concoction received no response. Oxford was also the place the Astra-Zeneca COVID19 vaccine was developed and that did not turn out too well in the end.
Another article in Malaria Word by Alhassan et al, is Call for elimination program of Malaria among children under 5 years old living in refugee camps in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. DRC is number two for malaria attributed deaths with 12.3% of worldwide malaria deaths. The article’s message is typical, a call to boost the traditional malaria interventions of distributing insecticide-treated nets and drugs, by improving vector control, improved diagnosis and treatment capabilities, and strengthening local health systems.
But the article in its discussions does provide important clues about why malaria is serious in deprived parts of the DRC. The authors state that refugees are more susceptible to contracting malaria infections by their lack of protective immunity, increased concentration of people in endemic settings, limited resources, their poor exposed living conditions, residing in unfinished houses, poor drainage and acute malnutrition among the children due to inadequate food rations. However, instead of proposing activities to improve these unhealthy living conditions the authors call for more of the usual supposed solutions – more testing, more poisons for people and more poisons for insects.