The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday said more than 650,000 children have been immunized with malaria vaccine across Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi in the last two years since the launch of the vaccine, reported CGTN Africa.
The WHO’s statement comes ahead of World Malaria Day to be marked on April 25.
“Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi show that existing childhood vaccination platforms can effectively deliver the malaria vaccine to children, some of whom have not been able to access an insecticide-treated bed net or other malaria prevention measures,” said Dr. Katherine O’Brien, WHO Director of the Department of Immunization, Vaccines, and Biologicals.
O’Brien said the malaria vaccine is expected to make malaria prevention more equitable, thus saving more and more lives.
RTS,S is the first vaccine that has been shown to reduce malaria in children, according to the WHO. Over 1.7 million doses of the malaria vaccine have been given in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi during the pilot phase that was started in 2019.
The WHO’s World Malaria Report 2020, published in November, found that malaria claimed an estimated 411,000 lives in 2018 and 409,000 in 2019. In 2019, the total number of malaria cases reported across the world was estimated at 229 million.
Notably, more than 90 percent of malaria deaths are reported in Africa, the majority- more than 265,000- in young children. Most malaria cases and deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa.
Akpaka Kalu, team leader for tropical and vector-borne diseases in the WHO African region, malaria in some ways is the child health emergency of lifetime-or many lifetimes- in Africa.
Kalu applauded the participating countries’ work that has resulted in malaria vaccine pilots with strong vaccination coverage. It is expected that the data will help in understanding the RTS,S vaccine’s potential to improve child health and strengthen malaria control and, potentially reverse trends.
