Ghana trials malaria vaccine for children

Ghana has begun clinical trials testing the safety of a new malaria vaccine to be given to children alongside TB and polio immunisation.

The vaccine is to be trialled on babies from the age of six weeks old, aiming to discover both the effectiveness of the treatment on young children and also whether it affects the vaccines taken at the same time to protect against other diseases, ModernGhana.com reported.

Held by the Kintampo Health Research Centre, the tests follow successful clinical trials using the vaccine on older children, and the researchers are also trying to judge the most effective age group to administer the vaccine to.

"Apart from the safety and protection we look for, we will assess the interference of the malaria vaccine on the routine vaccines," Doctor Seth Owusu-Agyei, director of the centre, told the website.

"We would have the opportunity to compare which best age group to administer the drug and the best schedules to use," he told AllAfrica.com.

Figures published by the World Health Organization revealed that an estimated 19,631 Ghanaian children under the age of 15 were living with HIV/AIDS in 2005.

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