Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi were mentioned to be the African trio chosen to receive the first malaria vaccine starting in 2018. The pilot testing of the vaccine was announced to decide the future widespread use of the prevention as the World Health Organization (WHO) stated.
According to BBC the malaria vaccine that is tested in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi is called RTS, S or Mosquirix developed by GlaxoSmithKline. The injected vaccine was mentioned to have been only proven “partially.” It was also noted to be given in a four-dose schedule to half the involved 750,000 children aged between five and 17 months.
Several factors were decided by WHO in order to choose the three to pilot the malaria vaccine test. The main factor that was considered was their high rate of malaria cases. But aside from that Ghana, Kenya, nd Malawi were noted to have wide use of bed-nets along with outstanding malaria and immunization programs.
Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s African regional director then stated that if the malaria vaccine piloted in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi is to be combined with existing malaria interventions, thousands of lives will be saved in Africa. He then concluded that the data gathered in the pilot testing of the vaccine would decide the widespread use of the vaccine.
The organization also mentioned that the fund for the RTS, S pilots was secured through $15 million from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. $27.5 million was also received from GAVI Vaccine Alliance while UNITAID’s $9.6 million was mentioned to be responsible for the first four years of the malaria vaccine program per Huffington Post.
Back in 2015 the sub-Saharan Africa was subjected to a drastic 90 percent of malaria cases and 92 percent of malaria death. WHO then concluded that they aim to wipe out malaria by 2040 using the 30 years in the making malaria vaccine developed. The most recent success from global efforts was mentioned to be the 62 percent decrease in malaria deaths between 2000 and 2015.
