Volume 4 of 15/16 30th July. 2015 President Mary Grant 0421529824 Secretary Jeff Eustace 0412353820
We had a very interesting meeting last week with TY GILCHRIST who has been running SURFSIDE FITNESS Centre at Woorim for 6 years and is a Golden Gloves boxer. We may have a vo- cational visit there one evening. Ty volunteered to work out an exercise program for our visit. Remember that this Thursday our Exchange student from Germany will be at the meeting Elia Helwig from GERMANY D1841 Sponsor Club Fribourg. Please make him feel welcome. Raffle ticket sales are going well we have 100 books to sell and 10 books have already been sold. There will be some sales in the street. Bernie has arranged for a spot at IGA Sandstone Point for Friday 31st July[ this Friday] and for the following Friday. Any Volunteers to help here please let me know.. There is another Trivia night on Thursday September 3rd so see if you can round up some teams.. Sergeant for this week is Barry Clark as winner of Heads and Tails last week. On September 17th Joe Tooma from Australian Cervical Cancer will be the guest Speaker. You may wish to invite some guests along. George and I have to attend the chartering of the Rotaract Club of Brisbane CBD on Thursday so Bernie will be in the Chair. Our club will be co-sponsor of the North Lakes Rotaract which has had a very good start. Mary
Meeting: Thursday 6.30pm for 7.00 pm Banksia Room. Bribie Island Hotel 29 Sylvan Beach Esplanade Bribie Island 4507. MEMBERS if you are unable to attend meeting or have extra guest for dinner phone 0412353820 [ Jeff]] If you are not able to do your duty as rostered IT IS UP TO YOU to find a replacement [and let Jeff Eustace Know] Chairperson Registration Set up/ Intro Guest Guest Speaker Subject Date International Speaker Toast July 30 Lurline Greg Whymark My many Thompson John wilson Rae Guyder John Oxenford Hats August 6 John Wilson Rae Guyder John Oxenford Tara Quirke Adrian Lowe "Doing the Right Thing August 13 Rae Guyder John Oxenford Tara Quirke Ron Ward August 20 John Oxenford Tara Quirke Ron Ward Ira Quirke Cheryl McNaught Organ and Tissue Donation August 27 Tara Quirke Ron Ward Ira Quirke Ann France District Governor Visit Partner Night September 3 Ron Ward Ira Quirke Ann France Barry Clark Trivia Night September 10 Ira Quirke Ann France Barry Clark David Parry September 17 Ann France Barry Clark David Parry Kevin Brumm Joe Tooma Australian cervical Cancer September 24 Barry Clark David Parry Kevin Brumm Hilary Mockridge
World's first malaria vaccine gets go-ahead from EU London: The world's first malaria vaccine got a green light on Friday from European drugs regulators who recommended it as safe and effective to use in babies in Africa at risk of the mosquito-borne disease. The shot, called RTS,S or Mosquirix, and developed by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline in partnership with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, would be the first licensed human vaccine against a parasitic disease and could help prevent millions of cases of malaria in countries that use it. It still faces hurdles before being rolled out in Africa, including winning agreement from governments and other funders that it is worth using, since it offers only partial protection. Mosquirix, also part-funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will now be assessed by the World Health Organisation, which has promised to give its guidance before the end of this year on when and where it could be used. Malaria infects about 200 million people a year and killed an estimated 584,000 in 2013, the vast majority of them in sub-saharan Africa. More than 80 per cent of malaria deaths are in children under the age of five. Andrew Witty, GSK's chief executive, said the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) positive recommendation was a further important step towards making the world's first malaria vaccine available. "While RTS,S on its own is not the complete answer to malaria, its use alongside those interventions... such as bed nets and insecticides would provide a very meaningful contribution to controlling the impact of malaria on children in those African communities that need it the most," he said. Global health experts have long hoped scientists would be able to develop an effective malaria vaccine, and researchers at GSK have been working on RTS,S for 30 years. The shot also contains an adjuvant, or booster, made by US biotech company Agenus. Hopes that Mosquirix would be the final answer to wiping out malaria were dampened when trial data released in 2011 and 2012 showed it reduced episodes of malaria in babies aged 6-12 weeks by only 27 per cent, and by about 46 per cent in children aged 5-17 months. The EMA recommendation is that the shot should nevertheless be used in babies in the full age range covered in the trials, from six weeks to 17 months. Some malaria specialists have expressed concern that the complexities and potential costs of deploying this first vaccine when it provides only partial protection make it less attractive and more risky. "The timing, duration, and outcomes of some of the critical steps to possible vaccine implementation in African countries are not yet known," said David Kaslow, PATH's vice president of product development. However, Joe Cohen, a GSK scientist who has led the development of Mosquirix since 1987, said he had no doubt the vaccine could significantly reduce the toll of sickness and death caused by the malaria among African children. "I have absolutely no reservations in terms of rolling this vaccine out," he told Reuters. "Why? Because the efficacy, when translated into cases averted and deaths averted, is just tremendous. It will have an enormously significant public health impact." GSK has promised it will make no profit from Mosquirix, pricing it at the cost of manufacture plus a 5 per cent margin, which it will reinvest in research on malaria and other neglected tropical diseases. Sources involved in planning for Mosquirix's potential future use have told Reuters they've been advised to work with a price tag of about $5 a dose, which would bring the cost of a recommended four-dose immunisation to $20. Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/worlds-first-malaria-vaccine-gets-goahead-from-eu-regulators- 20150724-gik6ss.html#ixzz3h30KkBoS