Gavi says malaria case numbers fall in 17 African countries amid vaccine rollout

Nairobi, Jan 24 The delivery of 12 million malaria vaccine doses in 17 African countries since 2023 has contributed to a significant drop in caseload and fatalities among high-risk demographics including children, according to the Gavi vaccine alliance.

About five million children in the 17 malaria-endemic African countries, which represents more than 70 per cent of the global malaria burden, have been protected from the disease after being inoculated, Gavi said in a statement issued in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.

Gavi Chief Executive Officer Sania Nishtar described the consistent rollout of the malaria vaccine as a game-changer in combating the mosquito-transmitted disease.

"This early data is a small indicator of the potential public health impact of a programme we hope to scale up dramatically by the end of this decade, protecting tens of millions of children around the world, and reducing the stress malaria imposes on African health systems," Nishtar said.

The successful implementation of pilot malaria vaccination programmes in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi from 2019 to 2023, which reached two million children and led to a 13 per cent drop in overall child mortality, has informed rollout in other high-burden countries on the continent, according to Gavi.

In addition to vaccines, other vital interventions like mass distribution of insecticide treated nets have been pivotal in reducing malaria transmission and deaths in Africa, Gavi said.

The introduction of malaria vaccine in African countries grappling with strife, including Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was hailed by the agency for revitalizing malaria fight, Gavi noted.

In 2025, Gavi plans to introduce malaria vaccines in six to eight new countries, including Uganda, Ethiopia, Guinea, Mali and Burundi, protecting an additional 13 million children by the end of the year, Xinhua news agency reported.

Between 2026 and 2030, Gavi aims to help high-burden countries protect an additional 50 million children with four doses of the malaria vaccine upon availability of funding, it said.

Source: IANS