Breakthrough for Australian Scientists Working on Malaria Vaccine

VOA News 20/01/2010

Researchers in Australia say a group of proteins produced in the human immune system - when infected with malaria - could help lead to the creation of a malaria vaccine. Scientists at Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute made the breakthrough.

For decades, scientists around the world have hunted for a vaccine against malaria, which claims one million lives annually.

The mosquito-borne disease kills a child every 30 seconds, with communities in Africa most at risk.

Malaria is caused by a complex parasite that makes it hard to target with a vaccine.

Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne say the disease has evolved to thwart the body's natural defenses.

Australian scientists at the institute, however, are optimistic that a vaccine can be created because people living in malaria hotspots eventually build up some immunity against the disease.

New Malaria Vaccine Initiative Aims to Stunt Parasite within Mosquitoes

VOA News 18/01/2010

A new vaccine initiative has been launched to try to prevent the malaria parasite from developing inside mosquitoes.

Malaria kills about one million people every year, most of them children under age five. Researchers say if successful so-called transmission-blocking vaccines could significantly limit the spread of infection. Once a mosquito bites a vaccinated person, it picks up a substance that interferes with parasite growth.

The Malaria Vaccine Initiative, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Sabin Vaccine Institute are collaborating in the effort.

Dr. Rhoel Dinglasan, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins, says there are different approaches to a malaria vaccine.

“The malaria vaccines that are currently being perused outside of this transmission-blocking vaccine concept are targeted toward different stages of the parasite life cycle. The most advanced malaria vaccine right now, the RTSS vaccine, is targeted toward prevention of liver stage infection,” he says.

VOA News 08/01/2010

Africa's top football, or soccer, teams are in Angola for the kick-off Sunday of the African Nations Cup. A partnership of football stars, civic groups, corporations and public donors is taking advantage of the sport's popularity to launch a campaign against malaria which is a major killer in Africa.

The United Against Malaria Partnership has launched a major media campaign to fight the disease on the eve of the African Nations Cup in Angola.

A spokesman for the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, Herve Verhoosel, said the 30-second public service announcements feature football stars from African nations who urge viewers to use treated mosquito nets. "We will use the power of football to communicate on malaria prevention. When a player speaks on TV or on the radio or in the press, when the player says to the young children, 'Sleep under a bed net,' people are listening," he said.

Angola's national football association this week joined similar associations from Ivory Coast, Ghana, Uganda, Zambia and the United States in the anti-malaria group. Other members include the national teams of Mali and Tanzania and European Champions Barcelona of Spain.

Malaria is caused by a parasite that is transmitted through a certain type of mosquito. It kills some 850,000 people in Africa ever year. The illness also causes extensive loss of productivity because of its debilitating symptoms.

But Verhoosel says malaria can be prevented. "We have everything to prevent and to cure malaria and we still have a child dying from malaria every 30 seconds. What we need today is political leadership," he said.

He says football stars can also influence African leaders to focus greater resources on malaria.

Carter Center Works to Eradicate Malaria in Haiti, Dominican Republic

VOA News: Haiti and the Dominican Republic are the last two countries in the Caribbean region with known cases of malaria, and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter says he hopes to see an eventual eradication of the disease in both countries. VOA spoke recently with the former president and to members of his Carter Center staff in Atlanta, Georgia about their efforts to curb the mosquito-borne illness.

Poverty and instability are part of life on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. And, says former President Jimmy Carter, they are conditions that contribute to malaria infections in both countries, along with a lack of cooperation between the two neighbors

"The Dominican Republic government and the Haiti government, have never got along well. But both trust me, and trust the Carter Center," Mr. Carter said.