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LPEZ PREZ, M. de la CRUZINTERVIEW TO MANUELPATARROYOESSAY9.04.20121ST VERSION

Malaria is a tropical disease caused byPlasmodium, a single-cell parasite which

is transmitted to humans through the saliva of the Anopheles Funestus mosquito. The

base case reproduction rate of malaria is considerably lower in temperate regions than in

the tropics (Sachs & Malaney, 2002:680). Therefore, the spread of the disease is

related to hot and damp climate, and affects specially at the present time to poor tropical

countries. This is the reason why the disease is considered by these authors from the

Center for International Development, John F. Kennedy at Harvard University, as an

economic and social burden (2002:680). Because there is also a link between poverty

and prosperity of malaria: As a general rule of thumb, where malaria prospers most,

human societies have prospered least (Sachs & Malaney:681).

Manuel Patarroyo is a Colombian scientist who developed in 1986 a synthetic

vaccine against Malaria. He comes from a country both poor and tropical, so he is

personally concerned about the spread of the disease at the Third World. His first

vaccine, called SPf66 was only effective in 40 60 % of the cases. Despite the fact

that there are other means to prevent Malaria like insecticides, mosquito-nets, etc.;

besides drugs like Artemisinin-based combination therapy, recommended by WHO

(WHO 2010 : 6), Patarroyos vaccine represents the hope of a more effective prevention

mean than those now available. Furthermore, he has announced the clinical trial of a

new vaccine, "Colfavac", which is supposed to be much more effective, in June 2012.

Patarroyo has been interviewed several times. In one of these interviews, in

September 2005, he explained the reasons of his commitment with the development of

this illness. He studied in Colombia but completed his education in the United States at

Yale University and Rockefeller University, where he read his dissertation (PhD). He is

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LPEZ PREZ, M. de la CRUZINTERVIEW TO MANUELPATARROYOESSAY9.04.20121ST VERSION

Professor of the National University of Colombia and directs the Colombian Institute of

Immunology. He decided to become a medical doctor because he wanted to be useful to

others and because he found knowledge as the more fascinating thing in the world.

While he studied in Yale University, he realized that there was a big imbalance between

rich and poor countries.

However, World Health Organization has established the goals until 2010 in

their World Malaria Report 2010: halting malaria deaths by ensuring universal

coverage of malaria interventions by the end of 2010.The aim was for indoor residual

spraying (IRS) and long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets (LLINs) to be made

available to all people at risk of malaria, especially women and children in Africa, and

for all public health facilities to be able to provide effective malaria diagnosis and

treatment (2010:3). The goals for next years are: By 2015 reduce by two-thirds the

mortality rate among children under five By 2015 have halted and begun to reverse

the incidence of malaria and other major diseases. (2010:3)

References

Jeffrey Sachs, Pia Malaney: The economic and social burden of malaria, NATURE,

VOL 415 | 7 February 2002, Macmillan Magazines, www.nature.com, accessed:

29.04.2012

World Health Organization: World Malaria Report 2010, WHO Library Cataloguing-in-

Publication Data World malaria report: 2010.

http://www.who.int/malaria/world_malaria_report_2010/en/index.htm

l, accessed 31.03.2012