AFRICA – More than 1 million children have been vaccinated against malaria in a pilot programme for the world’s first malaria vaccine in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO).
The Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance has secured over US$ 155 million to support the introduction, procurement and delivery of the malaria vaccine for Gavi-eligible countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
In 2021, the World Health Organization approved a historic breakthrough vaccine against malaria developed by pharmaceuticals major GlaxoSmithKline as an additional tool to reduce child illness and deaths from malaria.
The RTS, S/AS01 (RTS, S) malaria vaccine is recommended for use among children living in areas with moderate-to-high Plasmodium falciparum malaria transmission, estimated to save the lives of an additional 40,000 to 80,000 African children each year if widely deployed.
The malaria vaccine pilot programme was first launched by the Government of Malawi in April 2019 proving that the RTS, S/AS01 (RTS, S) vaccine is safe to administer which is a major step forward for malaria control, child health and health equity.
Ghana has administered over one million doses of the four-course malaria vaccines since May 2019 till January 2020 in 33 districts of six selected regions across the country.
The Ghana Health Service plans to upscale the administration of the RTS malaria vaccines for children up to two years in the coming months following the approval by the World Health Organization.
The Ugandan Government also plans to start the implementation of the malaria vaccine for children at the end of 2023 to strengthen efforts to prevent, control and eliminate transmission of malaria in the country.
In Kenya, 275,000 children have received at least one out of the four scheduled doses of the malaria vaccine while over 45,000 children have received their full course of four doses of the vaccine so far.
Additionally, the government disclosed that over 324,000 pregnant women living in malaria endemic areas of the lake and coast endemic counties in Kenya have received Intermittent Preventive Treatment for malaria during pregnancy.
Kenya has also distributed 16 million Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets to households in 27 Counties with the highest burden of malaria between May and December 2021 in the fight against the disease.
The Kenyan government has further provided US$10 million for procurement of malaria diagnosis and treatment commodities hence the country registered over 14 million malaria diagnostic tests conducted and five million cases of malaria treated.
Consequently, the health ministry reported that over the last decade, Kenya has been able to reduce the burden of malaria by at least 50 percent from a prevalence rate of 11 percent in 2010 to six percent in 2020.
Moreover, the World Health Organization has recommended adoption of new types of insecticide-treated nets, spatial mosquito repellents, gene-drive approaches and sugar baits designed to attract and kill Anopheles mosquitoes to further support the malaria vaccine deployment.
WHO has also welcomed the use of new medicines in malaria control like the recent approval by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration of dispersible tablets of single-dose tafenoquine for the prevention of P. vivax malaria among children.
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