Alberto Leny
The selection of Kenya to participate in the pilot phase of the first malaria vaccine by the World Health Organisation (WHO) will go a long way in combating one Africa’s biggest disease burdens.
Although preventable and curable, an estimated 429,000 people across the world die of malaria every year.
The malaria vaccine has the potential to save tens of thousands of lives, according to WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“We have seen tremendous gains from bed nets and other measures to control malaria in the last 15 years, but progress has stalled and even reversed in some areas. We need new solutions to get the malaria response back on track, and this vaccine gives us a promising tool to get there,” the WHO chief noted.
The vaccine, targeting 360,000 children a year, is part of a large-scale pilot project. Clinical trials over five years found that the vaccine prevented approximately four out of 10 malaria cases and three in 10 cases of life-threatening severe malaria over a four-year period.
The WHO-coordinated vaccination implementation programme in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi has been designed to address several outstanding questions related to the public health use of the vaccine, RTS,S, also known as Mosquirix, developed by GlaxoSmithKline.
Children under five are at the greatest risk of malaria’s complications, claiming the life of a child every two minutes.
Most of the deaths are in Africa, where more than 250,000 children die from the disease yearly.
Between 2000 and 2015, there was a 62 per cent reduction in malaria deaths, according to WHO and a 41 per cent reduction in the number of cases.
Recent data, however, suggests that malaria is making a comeback, with 219 million cases in 2017 compared with 217 million in 2016.
There is a real concern that cases could continue to shoot. WHO says the vaccine is “complementary malaria control tool” to be used in addition to bed nets treated with insecticide, spraying indoor areas with insecticide and prompt diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
The vaccine will be given in four doses: three doses between ages five months and nine months while the fourth dose will be administered around the second birthday.
The vaccine acts against Plasmodium falciparum, the most deadly malaria parasite globally and the most prevalent in Africa.
Its efficacy was established during the third phase of trial conducted from 2009 to 2014, that enrolled approximately 15,000 young children and infants in seven sub-Saharan Africa countries.
Among children aged between five and 17 months, who received four doses of RTS,S the vaccine prevented approximately 39 per cent cases of malaria over four years of follow-up and about 29 per cent cases of severe malaria, with significant reductions also in overall hospital admissions.
The vaccine also reduced the need for blood transfusions, which are required to treat life-threatening malaria anaemia by 29 per cent.
Data derived from the vaccination implementation programme will inform a WHO policy recommendation on the broader use of the vaccine.
Kenya stands out among first countries to receive the vaccine. —[email protected]
