It comes after successful pilot campaigns in Kenya, Ghana and Malawi - where the vaccine caused a 13% drop in deaths of children of eligible age, says Unicef.
While the rollout is undoubtedly a relief and a life-saver, its relatively low efficacy rate means that it is not a “silver bullet”, argues Willis Akhwale at End Malaria Council Kenya.
“We have a capacity to considerably reduce the number of cases and deaths from malaria and accelerate the elimination of the disease,” Cameroonian doctor Shalom Ndoula, who helped to lead the vaccine rollout in his country, told BBC Newsday.
There was another breakthrough earlier this month, when Cape Verde became the first sub-Saharan African country in 50 years to be officially declared malaria-free by the global health body.
“When people say we are being used as guinea pigs, that’s not particularly true,” Wilfred Fon Mbacham, who is a Cameroonian king and also a professor of public health biotechnology specialising in malaria, told BBC Newsday.
It’s a bad thing and when it affects a child, they can easily die," one mother told the BBC at the same vaccination centre in Soa, near Yaoundé, where Monday’s launch happened.
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It comes after successful pilot campaigns in Kenya, Ghana and Malawi - where the vaccine caused a 13% drop in deaths of children of eligible age, says Unicef.
While the rollout is undoubtedly a relief and a life-saver, its relatively low efficacy rate means that it is not a “silver bullet”, argues Willis Akhwale at End Malaria Council Kenya.
“We have a capacity to considerably reduce the number of cases and deaths from malaria and accelerate the elimination of the disease,” Cameroonian doctor Shalom Ndoula, who helped to lead the vaccine rollout in his country, told BBC Newsday.
There was another breakthrough earlier this month, when Cape Verde became the first sub-Saharan African country in 50 years to be officially declared malaria-free by the global health body.
“When people say we are being used as guinea pigs, that’s not particularly true,” Wilfred Fon Mbacham, who is a Cameroonian king and also a professor of public health biotechnology specialising in malaria, told BBC Newsday.
It’s a bad thing and when it affects a child, they can easily die," one mother told the BBC at the same vaccination centre in Soa, near Yaoundé, where Monday’s launch happened.
The original article contains 727 words, the summary contains 195 words. Saved 73%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!