Malawi launches Africa’s first malaria vaccine for children

Blantyre, Malawi —

Malawi and the World Health Organization are rolling out a new malaria vaccine for young children that backers say will reduce deaths from mosquito-borne diseases.

The RTSS vaccine was piloted in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi in over 1 million children and was recommended by WHO a year ago. Although the vaccine’s efficacy rate is as low as 30%, hopes have grown that it could save some of her more than 400,000 people who die each year from malaria.

Malaria remains a major public health problem in Malawi, infecting about a third of the population of 20 million people each year.

According to the Ministry of Health, the disease kills five Malawians every day, mostly children under the age of five or pregnant women who did not receive early treatment.

The first phase of the vaccination campaign will target 330,000 children who were not reached during the vaccine trials, according to the Ministry of Health.

Marketed by GlaxoSmithKline as Mosquirix, the vaccine is intended for children under the age of five and requires four doses.

“Malaria is a major problem for children. They are the children most at risk of dying,” said Dr. Charles Mwansambo, Malawi’s Health Secretary. “So even when we were doing previous research, we found that we needed to target this age group if we were to see the greatest benefit. It’s this age group that’s the tallest.”

Last year, the government launched a nationwide malaria-fighting initiative known as Zero Malaria Starts with Me, aiming to eliminate the disease by 2030.

Mwansambo said vaccines are an important part of that initiative.

“It actually prevents about 33% of deaths. [we can] Prevent by indoor residual spray, [can] It will add something important that will lead to the eradication of malaria,” he said.

But vaccine proponents, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, have expressed concerns about whether a vaccine is worth the expense.

The Associated Press quoted Philip Welkoff, director of the Gates Foundation’s malaria program in July, saying the foundation would fund coalitions that back vaccines, but would no longer provide direct financial support for vaccines. Said I wouldn’t.

Mosquirix is ​​far less effective than the Foundation would like, he said, and the vaccine is relatively expensive and difficult to deliver.

Dr Neema Kimambo, WHO representative for Malawi, said a malaria vaccine per se is not a silver bullet but is part of a combination of all interventions to combat the disease.

“Where is it [vaccination] We have seen a decrease in under-five deaths, and we believe that the current expansion will definitely save lives for children under five,” she said.

Malawi health activist and community health ambassador Majiko Matemba said he hoped the efficacy of the malaria vaccine would improve over time.

“There is an example of COVID-19. You know when AstraZeneca started it was also a new vaccine it was less effective than a certain percentage and people said less than this But as time went on, we found that efficacy increased,” Matemba said.

“I know other partners say the value of the investment is not worth it, but given where we are from, Malawi in particular, this could be one of the tools to prevent malaria. may become.”

In addition to WHO, partners supporting Malawi in the fight against malaria include USAID, UNICEF, AIDS, Tuberculosis, the Global Fund to Combat Malaria, and the global health nonprofit PATH.

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