by Yacinthe Diene, Senegal, August 1997
THEME = HEALTH
"Senegal wishes to thank all those highly skilled scientists who have come to share with us the fruit of their research for the benefit of the Third World". These words were pronounced by the Minister of Health, Ousmane N'Gom, during a ceremony, when he presented one of Senegal's highest national decorations (Commander of the National Order of the Lion), to Professor Manuel Elkin Patarroyo, director and founder of the Institute of Immunology of Saint John of God's Hospital, the National University of Colombia. The researcher from Colombia, was a special guest of Senegal's President Abdou Diouf, and had been invited last July to take part in the National Day Against Malaria, held at Nioro du Rip, (in the centre of the country), and to meet Senegal's scientific community.
At the end of his visit, Professor Patarroyo left behind an impression of tremendous hope, and he promised to return. He announced at a press conference: "By the end of 1998, or the beginning of 1999, my vaccine against malaria will cost 75 CFA francs for the three injections, providing complete immunisation. By then, it will be available in Senegal, and I will be here for the launching of this great battle against malaria".
The name of the new vaccine is "Synthetic plasmodium falciparum 66e formula". It had been perfected in January 1986 by Professor Patarroyo, after splitting up the chemical structure of the "plasmodium falciparum", a parasite protozoa of the mosquito carrier of malaria. The carrier is the anopheles female mosquito found in swampy areas.
This discovery has come just in time, when the present treatment against malaria, such as chloroquinin tablets are becoming ineffective, and insecticides useless. Thus the SPF66 is a life- saving discovery for those Third World countries where malaria is still prevalent. As the Colombian researcher said: "My discovery, is Colombia's gift to the world". The Professor hopes to lower the price of the vaccine in order to make it accessible to all: "One injection will cost about 25 CFA francs, which is not an enormous sum, considering that lives will be saved".
If this is the case, then the arrival of the new vaccine will be a major blow for the big pharmaceutical laboratories, which commercialised the present anti-malaria tablets, as well as insecticides against malaria. Why? Because the price of SPF66 will be eight times lower than the present treatment used, sold at 500 CFA francs (about $1 US).
How did the pharmaceutical producers react? Professor Patarroyo has already turned down an American firm which offered millions of dollars for the commercialisation of the vaccine. Instead, he has offered the patent of his invention to the World Health Organization (WHO), who will distribute the vaccine for a very modest price, revealing the Professor's very real humanitarian character. At his press conference, he declared: "I believe in humankind and in working together, and if I have a special gift to help others, then I will make full use of it". He shows by this by his determination to be the Third Millennium's "Louis Pasteur", and he's not afraid to answer his detractors.
Since SPF66's discovery about ten years ago, some scientists have been sceptical, saying that the experiments carried out, have failed to prove the vaccine's effectiveness, and that there is no future for it. The prestigious British medical journal, The Lancet, has already published a report on the present controversy - a controversy which was well to the fore at a conference on malaria, held in Hyderabad (South India), in August.
Experiments carries over a fifteen-year period, show an immunity rate of about 50% for monkeys, 40% for adult humans, and 77% for children who have used the vaccination for five years. Clinical experiments have been carried out in Latin America (Venezuela, Equator, Colombia, Brazil); in Asia (Thailand and Cambodia); in Africa (The Gambia and Tanzania). These tests showed a protection rate of 33.5%. WHO concludes from these findings, that the number of malaria cases could be reduced to 47% by the vaccine SPF66, with very little, or nearly no side effects.
The vaccine will be ready in 1998, and will be a turning point in the fight against malaria, one of the worst diseases ever to hit humankind. Malaria results in about 10% of hospitalisation cases and 30% of external consultations, on a world-wide basis. It is responsible for more than 4 million deaths, and between 250 and 450 million new cases each year. In Senegal, about one million new cases are registered each year, with a mortality rate running at 40% for the worse cases, and about 4,000 deaths for the whole of the country. Only 12% of Africans are immune from malaria. It takes the form of an epidemic in such countries as Botswana, Kenya, Uganda, and in refugee camps in Burundi, Rwanda Tanzania and the Congo RDC. 73% of Africa's population live in risk zones.
It's clear, then, that malaria is a very serious public health problem.
With talent and determination, Professor Patarroyo has interested himself in a disease which is given a very minor place in the international community's priorities - in spite of all their promises.
At the very moment when some scientists were doubting the vaccine's positive results, and when pharmaceutical laboratories were still advertising their products now known to be ineffective, SPF66 is increasingly looking like WHO's only viable alternative. Once the vaccine has been given the final go-ahead by WHO, some of WHO's members such as Kenya, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Senegal, want to use it as their main armament in the fight against malaria.
The Colombian scientist doesn't have much money available for research but he does have a positive approach. He wants to prove that someone from the Third World can create a vaccine. Addressing Senegal's scientific community, he said that both he and his Institute are available to any Third World researcher. He said: "Only the people of the South can solve their own problems, using solutions adapted to their own needs". The scientists of the South have an important contribution to make towards making the vaccine finally ready for general use.
This highly skilled professor has launched a challenge to all the scientists of the South, to fight against the plague of malaria. In 1992, a Declaration was issued in Amsterdam, concerning the fight against malaria. The declaration recommended that all scientists work as one in the struggle.
For the moment, let's see if the long-awaited SPF66 is really what's needed.
END