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Seattle Shakur

Professor Weinbauer
World Regional Geography
19 November 2016
New Malaria Vaccine to Launch in Sub-Saharan Africa
Starting in 2018, according to the U.N. News Centre, the world's first vaccine for malaria
will be tested throughout Sub-Saharan Africa after $15 million dollars worth of funding was
approved. The vaccine, called Mosquirix and RTS, S, was developed by a British pharmaceutical
company named GlaxoSmithKline and will provide partial protection against the malaria parasite
in young children. The regions that will receive the vaccination first will be the three countries
with the highest incidence of malaria (Gaffey). These countries are Central Africa, Chad, and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. The vaccine will complement existing prevention methods,
such as insecticidal bed nets, insecticidal sprays, and is preventative treatment for infants, but,
alone, the vaccine is not an absolute prevention tool (UN News Centre).
Sub-Saharan Africa is well known for the parasitic disease malaria. In 2015, it was
estimated that 214 million malaria cases occurred and 438,000 people died from the disease. Out
of the 214 million (Gathany), 88 percent of the people were from Sub-Saharan Africa and 90
percent of the deaths were also in this region. The disease has such a high death rate in this area
because of the level of poverty among the civilians. It disproportionately affects people who
cannot afford the treatments, or have limited access to healthcare (Gathany).
Therefore, the Mosquirix vaccine being funded is extremely important to Sub-Saharan
Africa. Now these families living in poverty have a chance receive the vaccine without having to
pay for it. In some parts of Africa, only one doctor is available to serve 20,000 people (Chan).

With the free vaccine, the number of malaria cases could be greatly reduced, making the doctors
available to people with other diseases. The vaccine could also be a starting point to break the
disease poverty cycle.
The article relates to World Regional Geography, because we discussed the geography of
disease in Sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria would be considered a pandemic instead of an epidemic
because it has spread around the world; even though the majority of the cases are in Africa. It is
also a vector transmitted disease, being carried by a mosquito. Also, the malaria disease fits into
the disease poverty cycle, as said above, because the people who are infected do not have the
finances the pay for medication or do not have access health care in their area. If they do have
access to health care, they most likely do not have enough money to afford the cost of a visit.

Works Cited
Chan, Dr. Margaret. "Breaking the cycle of poverty, misery, and disease." World Health
Organization. 13 November 2012. Who.int. Web. 20 November 2016.
Gaffey, Conor. "World's First Malaria Vaccine to be Piloted in Africa in 2018." Newsweek, 18
November 2016. Newsweek. Web. 19 November 2016.
Gathany, James. "10 Facts on Malaria." World Health Organization. Web. 19 November 216.
UN News Centre. "World's first malaria vaccine set for 2018 rollout in Africa after WHO secures
funding. " United Nations, 17 November 2016. Un.org. Web. 19 November 2016.

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