Patients receive medication at a typhoid screening and treatment at a in clinic in coast. [Photo: NMG]
The World Health Organisation has approved a new typhoid vaccine which Kenya can order for.
The new vaccine has a longer-lasting immunity than older vaccines, requires fewer doses, and can be given to children as young as six months through the routine childhood immunisation programmes.
The WHO approval makes it eligible for procurement by countries through agencies such as UNICEF, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, reports the Star.
“WHO prequalification helps to ensure that vaccines used in immunisation programmes are safe, effective, and appropriate for countries’ needs,” WHO said in a statement.
The new vaccine is called Typbar-TCVR and is made by India's Bharat Biotech.According to the ministry of health, typhoid affects less than one percent of
Kenyans annually and is usually treated with antibiotics.However, the Kenya Medical Research Institute says a new drug-resistant strain was last year reported in Nairobi, leading to a growing need for an effective vaccine.
Prof Sam Kariuki, the head of microbiology at Kemri, recently said the drug-resistant strain of typhoid, called H58, was found in Nairobi’s Mukuru kwa Njenga slum, the Star adds.
“With the increase of slums, which have poor sanitation, these cases are bound to go up,” he told journalists recently.
Vaccines in Kenya are almost entirely financed by Gavi, a Geneva based body that is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank, Unicef and donor governments to buy the vaccines for poorer nations.
Gavi says it has approved Sh8.7 billion ($85 million) to buy the typhoid vaccine, and the earliest it can reach beneficiary countries is 2019.Typhoid is usually spread through contaminated food and water. Symptoms include fever, fatigue, headache, abdominal pain, and diarrhea or constipation.