In recognition of his critical research into the killer diseases of children, especially those with suppressed immune systems as a result of HIV, Professor Shabir Madhi received this award.
Madhi, professor of vaccinology at Wits University, holds the National Research Foundation/department of science and technology chair of vaccine preventable diseases and is co-director of the South African Medical Research Council/University of the Witwatersrand Respiratory and Meningeal Pathogens Research Unit.
His career is focused on reducing childhood morbidity and mortality from infectious diseases, with research centred on the role of new vaccines in preventing the two leading causes of death in children -— pneumonia and diarrhoeal disease.
Madhi’s research is the first in Africa to demonstrate that childhood morbidity in Africa can be reduced significantly with pneumococcal-conjugate and rotavirus vaccines.
Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is used to protect infants and children against disease caused by the bacterium Streptococcus Pneumoniae. Annually, 780 000 children die of pneumococcal disease, 40% of whom are in Africa.
Rotavirus vaccine protects children from rotavirus, the leading cause of severe diarrhoeal disease among infants and children. Each year more than 500 000 children die from diarrhoeal disease caused by rotavirus. Another two million are hospitalised.
Limited access to curative healthcare is a major contributing factor to the burden of pneumococcal and rotavirus disease in African children.
These can be overcome by preventative strategies, such as vaccination. Viral diseases, such as polio and measles, are uncommon now because of prevention by vaccines.
Bacterial infections are more complex and harder to vaccinate against. Some produce a toxin that is mostly responsible for the disease and that can be used in a modified form as a vaccine. But in some bacteria there is no single toxin that can be used as a basis for a vaccine.
The group of bacteria that causes some of the most common and severe infections in childhood falls into this bracket and includes Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus that is the major cause of pneumonia and meningitis) and Neisseria meningitidis (the meningococcus that may cause meningitis). Research shows it is these diseases that provide the best examples of the application of conjugation to vaccine technology.
This has contributed to South Africa being the first in Africa to introduce conjugate pneumococcal vaccine and rotavirus vaccines into the immunisation programme. They could reduce childhood mortality in South Africa by 10% to 15%.
Madhi qualified as a paediatrician at Wits University in 1996. He has researched opportunistic infections in HIV-infected children and vaccine preventable diseases for the past 13 years.
No award was made for senior black female researcher this year