Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Africa Water & Sanitation & Hygiene May -June 2017 | Page 38

Water & Health
Ghana, Kenya and Malawi to take part in
WHO malaria vaccine pilot programme
Brazzaville, The World
Health Organization
Regional Office for
Africa (WHO/AFRO)
announced today
that Ghana, Kenya,
and Malawi will take part in a WHO-coordinated pilot
implementation programme that will make the world’s first
malaria vaccine available in selected areas, beginning in
2018.
The injectable vaccine, RTS,S, was developed to protect
young children from the most deadly form of malaria
caused by Plasmodium falciparum. RTS,S will be assessed
in the pilot programme as a complementary malaria
control tool that could potentially be added to the core
package of WHO-recommended measures for malaria
prevention.
“The prospect of a malaria vaccine is great news.
Information gathered in the pilot will help us make
decisions on the wider use of this vaccine”, said Dr
Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.
“Combined with existing malaria interventions, such a
vaccine would have the potential to save tens of thousands
of lives in Africa,” she added.
Africa bears the greatest burden of malaria worldwide.
Global efforts in the last 15 years have led to a 62 percent
reduction in malaria deaths between 2000 and 2015, yet
approximately 429,000 people died of the disease in 2015,
the majority of them young children in Africa.
The WHO pilot programme will assess whether the
vaccine’s protective effect in children aged 5 – 17 months
old during Phase III testing can be replicated in real-life.
Specifically, the pilot programme will assess the feasibility
of delivering the required four doses of RTS,S, the
vaccine’s p