Africa nears broader vaccination against malaria
Summary
Malaria burden is the highest on the African continent, which accounts for approximately 95% of global malaria cases and 96% of related deaths in 2021.
Shipments of the world’s first WHO-recommended malaria vaccine, RTS,S, have begun with 331,200 doses landing on 21 November 2023 in Yaoundé, Cameroon, according to Gavi – the vaccine alliance.
The delivery is the first to a country not previously involved in the malaria vaccine pilot programme and signals that scale-up of vaccination against malaria across the highest-risk areas on the African continent will begin shortly.
Nearly every minute, a child under five dies of malaria. In 2021, there were 247 million malaria cases globally, which led to 619,000 deaths. Of these deaths, 77 per cent were children under 5 years of age, mostly in Africa. Malaria burden is the highest on the African continent, which accounts for approximately 95% of global malaria cases and 96% of related deaths in 2021.
A further 1.7 million doses of the RTS,S vaccine were expected to arrive in Burkina Faso, Liberia, Niger and Sierra Leone in weeks, with additional African countries set to receive doses in the months ahead. Several countries are now in the final stage of preparations for malaria vaccine introduction into routine immunisation programmes, which should see first doses administered in Q1 2024.
Related
-
Malaria To Zero: Access Bank's paradigm for anti-malaria
Strategies for eradicating malaria in Nigeria must focus on removing malaria parasites entirely from the population.
-
FCMB founder Subomi Balogun hands over paediatrics centre to UI, UCH
Otunba Subomi Balogun is a well-known statesman, entrepreneur and philanthropist with several charitable projects and ...
-
African dams linked to over 1 million malaria cases annually
New study urges future dam projects to consider better disease control measures.
Sustainable Development Section Sponsor
-
Access Bank Plc ...Financing the future
Most Popular
- African Development Bank elects Sidi Ould Tah ninth president
- Global space economy market to surpass $511 billion in 2029
- Uganda Secures $800 million from IsDB to fund development through 2027
- AWIEF opens nominations for 2025 awards for Africa’s women entrepreneurs
- Rethinking Nigeria's development for people-centred outcomes
- Getting debt sustainability right in developing countries
