Published on
Updated
Reading 2 mins.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced the shipment of 18 million doses of the first-ever malaria vaccine to 12 African countries over the next two years. A way to combat the high mortality rate due to malaria in Africa: 96% of deaths linked to the disease were recorded on the continent in 2021.
The announcement was made by WHO, Unicef and the Vaccine Alliance in a statement issued on July 5, 2023. This mass shipment of malaria vaccines aims to “fight against what is one of the main causes of death on the African continent”, the WHO said. The allocation of doses to several African countries was decided in particular because it concerns areas where the risk of illness and death due to malaria in children is highest.
More than 1.7 million African children have already benefited from the vaccine
The countries concerned are Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Liberia, Niger, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone. Since 2019, Ghana, Kenya and Malawi have already been administering this vaccine as part of an experiment. Thus, the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine has been inoculated into more than 1.7 million children in these three countries. The WHO says it “has been shown to be safe and effective, resulting in both a substantial reduction in severe malaria and a drop in infant mortality”. If given on a large scale, in addition to other interventions, this vaccine could prevent tens of thousands of deaths each year.
“Almost every minute a child under the age of 5 dies of malaria”
Malaria is a potentially fatal disease transmitted to humans through the bites of certain types of mosquitoes. It mainly occurs in tropical countries. It is a preventable disease that can be cured. Unfortunately, Africa lacks the means to fight it. As a result, it is one of the deadliest diseases on this continent with half a million children under the age of 5 dying from it each year. In 2021, 95% of malaria cases and 96% of deaths from the disease worldwide were recorded in Africa.
At least 28 African countries have expressed interest in receiving the malaria vaccine, WHO reports. Between 40 and 60 million doses of antimalarial vaccine will be requested each year worldwide by 2026, and between 80 and 100 million by 2030. In addition to the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine, a second vaccine, called R21 /Matrix-M, could soon be prequalified by the WHO.
Malaria in France
In France, the departments of Guyana and Mayotte are the only areas of the territory where malaria is present. In mainland France, cases of malaria are observed almost exclusively in people returning from countries where malaria transmission is active.