Mali is a poor African country, so poor that it ranked 186th out of 191 countries on the Human Development Index. The sparsely-populated northern half of Mali is mostly controlled by rebels, in a civil war that began in 2012 and continues to this day. Only 31% of all people in Mali can read and write.
But Mali is rolling out an additional vaccine to save lives, reports Gavi, the vaccine alliance that is helping fund the vaccination:
In a historic move, the government of Mali has introduced the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine into its routine immunization program. During a ceremony held in Bamako earlier this month, and attended by numerous dignitaries and international partners, Gavi and the Ministry of Health and Social Development emphasized the importance of this initiative, terming it a significant step forward in preventing cervical cancer among Malian women.
Mali aims to vaccinate more than 320,000 girls annually, potentially reducing cervical cancer cases by nearly 90%. This could, in turn, prevent over 3,600 deaths annually among Malian women. During the HPV campaign launch in Bamako, Dr Ibrahima Diarra, Director of Mali’s National Immunization Center, highlighted the significance of this development:
“A single dose is enough to protect a ten-year-old girl for over ten years against the viruses responsible for 70% of cervical cancers.”
The figure of 3,600 deaths annually prevented seems a bit high. In the United States, which has 14 times as many people as Mali, 11,500 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer every year, of whom 4,000 die. So this vaccine likely won’t prevent even 1,000 deaths annually in Mali. But it still will save some lives.
Malaria vaccines being rolled in various African nations are likely to save a much bigger number of lives than the HPV vaccine, and those anti-malaria vaccines could result in increased tourism to some of those countries by making them safer to visit.
In trials, personalized cancer vaccines cut the death rates for skin and breast cancer by 40%-50% for certain people. Even if such personalized vaccines save many lives, government regulations may delay them from being used for years. The FDA can take years to approve vaccines, medical tests, and drugs. The FDA didn’t approve a home test for HIV until 24 years after it first received an application. According to an FDA advisory committee, the test held “the potential to prevent the transmission of more than 4,000 new HIV infections in its first year of use alone.” That means thousands of people likely got infected with AIDS as a result of the delay in approving it. At least a hundred thousand people died waiting years for the FDA to approve beta blockers.
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