The 12 African countries to benefit from the malaria doses are: Ghana, Kenya and Malawi, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Niger, Sierra Leone and Uganda.
A joint statement by Gavi, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Children’s Fund (UNICEF) revealed.
They stated that the beneficiaries will begin the rollout by early 2024. The vaccine is already in use in three other African countries – Ghana, Kenya and Malawi.
The vaccine is the first to be recommended for use by WHO to prevent malaria in children below five years.
Lafiya360 reports that the 12 countries in Africa will be allocated a total of 18 million doses of RTS,S/AS01 for the 2023–2025 period.
Despite the fact that Nigeria bears the highest burden of malaria on the African continent, it was not included in the final selection of countries to get the vaccines.
According to the World Malaria Report of 2022 by the WHO, in 2021, four African countries accounted for just over half of all malaria deaths worldwide: Nigeria (31.3 per cent), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (12.6 per cent), United Republic of Tanzania (4.1 per cent) and Niger (3.9 per cent).
According to a joint statement by the international organizations, which did not give reasons for Nigeria’s exclusion, read: “Since 2019, Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi have been delivering the malaria vaccine through the Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme, coordinated by WHO and funded by Gavi, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and Unitaid.
“The RTS -S/AS01 vaccine has been administered to more than 1.7 million children in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi since 2019 and has been shown to be safe and effective, resulting in a substantial reduction in severe malaria and a fall in child deaths. At least 28 African countries have expressed interest in receiving the malaria vaccine.
“In addition to Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi, the initial 18 million dose allocation will enable nine more countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Uganda, to introduce the vaccine into their routine immunization programmes for the first time.”
In the statement, the organizations explained that the allocations were determined through the application of the principles outlined in a framework that prioritizes areas of highest need, risk and death of children.
The Managing Director of Country Programmes Delivery at Gavi, Thabani Maphosa, said, “While we work with manufacturers to help ramp up supply, we need to make sure the doses that we do have are used as effectively as possible, which means applying all the learnings from our pilot programmes as we broaden out to a new total of 12 countries.”
UNICEF Associate Director of Immunization, Ephrem Lemango, said, “For a long time, these deaths have been preventable and treatable; but the roll-out of this vaccine will give children, especially in Africa, an even better chance at surviving. As supply increases, we hope even more children can benefit from this life-saving advancement.”
The WHO Director of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals, Dr Kate O’Brien, stressed that the vaccine is a breakthrough to improve the health and survival of children, including their families and communities.