Cameroon launched the world’s first systematic and large-scale vaccination campaign against malaria on Monday, a “historic step” according to the WHO in the fight against this disease, one of the deadliest among African children.
Noah Ngah, a six-month-old infant, received his first injection of the RTS, S vaccine to the encouragement and songs of nurses at a small hospital in the town of Soa, 20 km from the capital Yaoundé, one of the numerous vaccination centers in the 42 districts declared “priority” by the government of this vast Central African country of some 28 million inhabitants.
A relief for Hélène Akono, Noah’s mother, who then waits for her twin sister Judith. “Some parents are reluctant but I know that vaccines are good for children,” she explained to AFP.
A child dies every minute
Malaria, also called malaria, is a disease transmitted to humans through the bites of certain types of mosquitoes. It kills more than 600,000 people each year, 95% of them in Africa, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
And on the continent, children under five account for more than 80% of deaths.
More than 300,000 doses of the RTS, S anti-malaria vaccine from the British pharmaceutical group GSK, the first to have been validated and recommended by the WHO, were delivered to Cameroon on November 21.
It took two months to organize the start of this campaign during which the antimalaria injection is offered free of charge, according to the government, and systematically to all children under six months of age, at the same time as other traditional vaccines.
RTS,S has been tested since 2019 in “pilot programs” in three African countries, Kenya, Ghana and Malawi, in a limited number of locations.
In Ghana, Minister of Health Kwaku Agyeman-Manu notes the significant impact of vaccination in reducing malaria-related mortality among under-fives, from 1.7% in 2008 to 0.06% in 2022.
“It is not only profitable, it is also a very effective way of ensuring the survival of children,” he assured AFP.
The launch in Cameroon of the world’s first large-scale and “systematic” vaccination campaign, according to the WHO which coordinates it, is financed in particular by the Gavi Vaccine Alliance.
The pilot program had “resulted in a spectacular 13% reduction in mortality from all causes among children of age to receive the vaccine, as well as a substantial reduction in severe forms of malaria and hospitalizations”, concluded the WHO in November.
Cameroon “is the first country in the world to directly introduce vaccination against malaria”, enthused Aurélia Nguyen, director of Gavi programs, in Geneva (Switzerland).
In Africa, “a child under 5 years old dies from malaria almost every minute”, underlines the WHO, which on Monday welcomes the “introduction” of the vaccine “in essential” and “routine” vaccination programs in country at risk.
The next countries to embark on large-scale vaccination, in the coming days or weeks, after having already received 1.7 million doses of RTS, S, are Burkina Faso, Liberia, Niger and Sierra Leone , specifies the WHO.
“Large-scale implementation of malaria vaccination” is “a historic step” which “could be a game-changer in the fight against malaria and save tens of thousands of lives each year”, estimated the WHO at the end of November .
Safety
There remains the question of acceptance of the vaccine by the populations.
Data from the pilot project in Kenya, Ghana and Malawi “showed the safety and impact of the RTS, S vaccine” and “provided evidence on vaccine acceptance and uptake” by populations, which allowed the WHO to recommend a second one on October 2, 2023, “the R21, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII)”, writes the WHO.
“Malaria is such a killer that the populations concerned have accepted it massively,” assures Kenyan Dr Willis Akhwale, special advisor to the Kenyan committee of the Global End Malaria Fund, co-chaired by Bill Gates. “It is not yet the expected miracle solution […]but even with an effectiveness of 40%, it saves lives.”
From a Cameroonian hospital, the Dr Alma Mpiki is also optimistic: “I have seen parents who are hesitant, especially since Covid-19, and the campaigns to vaccinate against cervical cancer, but I have confidence in the future”, she argues, convinced that “people will be more willing to vaccinate their children” by “seeing the effects”.