Cape Coast, Aug 25, GNA – The wide range of variants of the malaria parasite and the continuous emergence of new ones could affect the efficacy of the world’s first ever malaria vaccine in the country.
Research conducted by the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) shows varied malaria parasite strains across Ghana.
Dr Anita Ghansah, a Senior Research Fellow with NMIMR, however, noted that the malaria vaccine, RTS,S was variant specific and may be less efficient in some regions.
“So, there is the need to look at what the other circulating strains in the country are and to report these to global bodies that are coming up with vaccines so that some of these strains may be incorporated in future vaccines,” she stated.
Dr Ghansah was speaking on the importance of genomics to the delivery of quality health care at the ongoing three-day joint scientific conference by the Biomedical Research Ghana (CoBReG) and the College of Health and Allied Sciences (CoHAS) at the University of Cape Coast (UCC).
The conference is on the theme: “Deploying cutting-edge biomedical and clinical research to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in sub-Saharan Africa”.
Dr Ghansah said research she conducted between 2012 and 2015 in Cape Coast showed that majority of the parasites which circulated at the time were identical to the vaccines but those in Navrongo in the Upper East Region were largely different.
“And if that is what is still circulating, then it is very likely that the vaccine will be very effective in this region. But in regions where the circulating parasite percentage is very low, it is most likely that the vaccine will be less efficacious than where the vaccine identical strains are circulating,” she noted.
She, however, indicated that studies were ongoing to develop new vaccines which might be more effective than the RTS,S.
The Medical Doctor urged the scientific community to constantly monitor and understand the behavourial pattern of the malaria parasite to strengthen Ghana’s drive to eliminate the disease.
Dr Ghansah said although the antimalaria drugs were effective, the parasite could develop resistance to the drugs which could cause another wave of malaria in the country.
She intimated that NMIMR had gathered adequate data on the genomes of both humans and malaria parasites, which provided a solid foundation to explore the diversity of the parasite and how to effectively deal with it.
“And if there is any emerging resistant parasite, we will be able to curtail or contain it where it is occurring before it spreads,” she indicated.
Dr Ghansah said there was the need to train more health professionals in the field of bio-informatics or computational biology to enable them analyse the data provided through genomic sequencing.
“Genomics is a new field that we should all embrace because it provides more timely information about the area it is being applied,” she emphasised.
