Malawi becomes first nation to vaccinate children against malaria

Malawi has become the first nation to immunize children against malaria. Launched on Tuesday, the Malaria vaccine pilot programme will see at least 120,000 children in Malawi under the age of two injected with the RTS,S vaccine, for partial protection to malaria parasite.

Malawi’s Ministry of Health, deputy director, Michael Kayange, said the new system of control and prevention will help Malawi hopefully avoid one million of the six million cases of malaria detected each year in the country, and prevent 4,000 deaths.

Researchers and health authorities hope that, combined with other means of prevention, there will be a significant reduction in the number of victims.

The other two pilot countries Ghana and Kenya will begin vaccination next week. The campaign aims to confirm the effectiveness of the vaccine on children under 2, who are the most vulnerable to malaria. During trials there was 39 percent reduction malaria infections.

According to WHO statistics, Africa is by far the continent most affected by malaria, with 90% of the 435,000 people killed in the world in 2017 by this mosquito-borne disease.