New malaria vaccine hailed as ‘game changer’ that could save millions of lives
Augustine Tamia gently cups her son Philip’s face in her hands and lets out a small sigh.
Jane WhartonSaturday 25 Apr 2020The love for her only boy is evident but it is clear his health exacts a heavy financial and emotional toll on the family.
The mother-of-four has just returned from a gruelling morning in the cassava fields of rural Ghana.
Earlier this year, she sliced off part of her finger with a machete as she worked to pay off loans used to buy Philip’s malaria medication.
Each bout of the disease takes ten days hard labour to repay and he will fall sick at least three times a year.
Augustine Tamia and her daughter Rejoice outside their home in Tuobodom Dompoase, central Ghana (Picture: Tom Pilston / Malaria No More UK)
Augustine’s seven-year-old son Philip has malaria at least three times a year (Picture: Tom Pilston / Malaria No More UK)
Now seven, Philip is already behind at school as he is bedridden for weeks at a time with aches, fever and nausea.
Augustine, 29, was keen for her youngest daughter Rejoice to become part of a pilot vaccine programme fighting the world’s oldest and deadliest disease.
Cradling the inquisitive seven-month-old at their home in Tuobodom Dompoase, Augustine told Metro.co.uk through an interpreter: ‘Since Philip was born, it’s always malaria.
‘Whenever he is ill, it’s malaria.
‘It is difficult to eat if instead I have to pay for medication.
‘I don’t want Rejoice to go through what Philip goes through.
‘I don’t want her to be getting sick day in, day out and being absent from school.
‘I don’t want her to struggle like we do.’
Dr Samuel Harrison tends to a young malaria patient at hospital in Kintampo, Ghana (Picture: Tom Pilston / Malaria No More UK)
Mosquitoes, pictured under a microscope, are responsible for carrying parasites that cause malaria in humans (Picture: Tom Pilston / Malaria No More UK)
Globally the World Health Organisation recorded 228 million malaria cases and 405,000 premature deaths last year.
Around 90% of those were in sub-Saharan Africa and two-thirds who die are under five.
It is the number one reason why people in Ghana end up in hospital and poor households spend, on average, 34% of their income on treatment.
The country is now one of three taking part in the vaccine programme which, although just 40% effective, has been hailed a ‘game changer’ by experts.
Dr Samuel Harrison outside the Kintampo Health Research Centre in central Ghana (Picture: Tom Pilston / Malaria No More UK)
Mothers waiting to have their children immunised against malaria at the Toubodom Health Centre (Picture: Tom Pilston / Malaria No More UK)
Paediatrician Dr Samuel Harrison from Kintampo hospital, said: ‘Malaria causes a lot of social, economic and medical problems for children, for mothers and for the community as a whole.
‘Unfortunately hospital treatment is often sought very late in many African counties and the cost is very high for poor families.
‘If we are able to prevent 40% of cases of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa then that is huge.
‘We are talking, in terms of numbers, about 80 million children being saved from the deadly implications of malaria.
‘So it’s a very positive thing that is happening.’
