💉 Three West African countries begin vaccinating against malaria

• Benin, Liberia, and Sierra Leone have started vaccinating children against malaria.
• The vaccine has shown a significant reduction in malaria diseases and child mortality in initial African pilot programs.
• WHO and Gavi support the expansion, aiming to integrate the vaccine into national vaccination programs.

West Africa invests in malaria vaccination

Three countries—Benin, Liberia, and Sierra Leone—have now begun a comprehensive rollout of the malaria vaccine targeting children in these three West African nations.

Benin has received 215,900 doses and incorporated the malaria vaccine into its expanded immunization program. The vaccine is to be administered in a series of four doses to children starting from about 5 months of age.
In Liberia, the vaccine was launched in Rivercess County in the south and will subsequently be rolled out in five additional counties with high malaria burdens. At least 45,000 children are expected to benefit from the 112,000 available doses.

In Sierra Leone, the first doses were administered to children at a health center in Western Area Rural, where authorities initiated the rollout of 550,000 vaccine doses. The vaccine will then be offered at healthcare facilities throughout the country.

Effective and safe vaccines

Two safe and effective vaccines—RTS,S and R21—recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) have been groundbreaking for child health and malaria control. A pilot program for malaria vaccines in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi reached over 2 million children from 2019 to 2023 and showed a significant reduction in malaria diseases as well as a 13 percent decrease in overall child mortality and significant reductions in hospital admissions.

Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO's Regional Director for Africa, says the vaccines are a turning point in the fight against this deadly disease.

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