Team Blitz India
THE UK Government has lauded its vaccine collaboration with India as a crucial measure in combating malaria, a disease that is the biggest killer of children in subSaharan Africa.
The partnership between British scientists and Indian manufacturers has resulted in two crucial malaria vaccines, RTS,S and R21, developed by UK scientists at GSK and the University of Oxford, respectively. Both are now being produced on a large scale by Indian pharmaceutical companies.
“Both vaccines are significant scientific breakthroughs and important additions to the range of tools we have for fighting malaria,” said Anne-Marie Trevelyan, UK Minister of State for the Indo-Pacific in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
The High Commission of India in London commended this collaborative effort, labelling it “another success story in India-UK collaboration.” Deputy Foreign Secretary and Minister for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell stressed the preventable nature of malaria-related deaths, affirming, “Deaths from malaria are entirely preventable and the UK’s support for MedAccess will ensure that countries can afford to offer people the best protection against the disease.”
Commemorating World Malaria Day, the FCDO unveiled the commencement of the inaugural rollout of the RTS,S vaccine to Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Benin. Since the year 2019, these vaccines have been administered to 2 million children in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi.
A total of 22 countries are scheduled to roll out the vaccine. Gavi, which is supported by UK funding, aims to immunise over six million children against malaria by the end of 2025.
