“After more than 15 years of steady progress against the disease, the improvement is slowing down. Funding for malaria has also flatlined. If we simply stick with the same tools and the same strategies, progress will stall, and the disease might make a comeback.” Bill Gates, last week.
The World Health Organisation announced on Tuesday that they will be rolling out a malaria vaccine pilot program in Malawi, then Ghana and Kenya later in the year, in an effort to vaccinate 360,000 children annually. The program will make the RTS,S vaccine available to all children under the age of 2.
The RTS,S vaccine was found to prevent 4 in 10 cases of clinical malaria; 3 in 10 cases of severe malaria; and 6 in 10 cases of severe malaria anaemia, the most common reason children die from malaria. The vaccine is advised to be used as a complimentary malaria prevention and control tool, in addition to the WHO’s recommended measures, including insecticide-treated bed nets, indoor spraying with insecticides, and the timely use of malaria testing and treatment.
“We have seen tremendous gains from bed nets and other measures to control malaria in the last 15 years, but progress has stalled and even reversed in some areas. We need new solutions to get the malaria response back on track, and this vaccine gives us a promising tool to get there,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “The malaria vaccine has the potential to save tens of thousands of children’s lives.”
This pilot program is coordinated by WHO in collaboration with the ministries of health in Malawi, Ghana, and Kenya, as well as non-profit, PATH, and the vaccine developer and manufacturer GSK, which is donating around 10 million vaccine doses for the pilot. The program is financed by Gavi, the vaccine alliance; The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; and Unitaid.
“Malaria is a constant threat in the African communities where this vaccine will be given. The poorest children suffer the most and are at highest risk of death. We know the power of vaccines to prevent killer diseases and reach children, including those who may not have immediate access to the doctors, nurses and health facilities they need to save them when severe illness comes. This is a day to celebrate as we begin to learn more about what this tool can do to change the trajectory of malaria through childhood vaccination,” Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.
In selected areas in the three countries, the vaccine will be given in 4 doses: 3 doses between 5 and 9 months of age and the fourth dose provided around the 2nd birthday.
