Africa's malaria vaccine victory

Victory over malaria - 24th April 2023

Kenya's celebrated a monumental victory in the war against malaria. Through the implementation of the world's first malaria vaccine, the country's seen a substantial drop in severe cases and deaths caused by this life-threatening disease.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) first started rolling out the vaccine in 2021. Since then, over a million children have been vaccinated in Kenya, Malawi, and Ghana. The Kenyan government has given close to 400,000 doses of the vaccine targeted at the country's rural western regions.

Kenya's Director General for Health, Patrick Amoth explained, "Within these areas, there has been a substantial reduction in deadly, severe malaria, a drop in child hospitalizations, and a reduction in child deaths."

Developed by GlaxoSmithKline, the RTS,S vaccine took over 30 years to be implemented in malaria prevention. Children must take four doses by age two for the vaccine to be fully effective.

Malaria infected an estimated 247 million people and killed 619,000 in 2021 alone, with 96 percent of those deaths occurring in Africa, according to the WHO. Children are particularly at risk and the disease is often cited as the primary cause of children's illness and death in Kenya.

A young mother in Kenya, Isabella Osido highlighted the vaccine's importance. She said, "at the beginning she [her child] was always sick with malaria and could be treated at a rural clinic," but after finishing the vaccine doses, she's never had to return.

Elimination of malaria is an achievable goal. In fact, 9 countries including Algeria and Sri Lanka have already accomplished this through use of preventative medicine and treatment from well-equipped health systems. These countries have had three consecutive years of zero malaria cases.

Armed with the vaccine, the WHO intends to eliminate malaria in 35 countries by 2030. Kenya aims to be one of them.