The ability of wealthy countries to financially motivate pharmaceutical concerns to come up with an effective vaccine against Covid in less than one year has been fascinating. The disease has to date caused a little under 7 million deaths WHO Covid. The vaccination campaign saved millions of lives Lancet Covid. The roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccination highlighted once again the vaccination inequality, with inadequate access to vaccines in low-income countries, not only for the Covid-19 vaccines but other life threatening diseases, particularly malaria, in Africa.
The World Health Organization (“WHO”) estimates that there were 234 million cases of malaria in Africa with the disease responsible for the death of nearly half a million children under 5 years in Africa only in 2021 WHO malaria deaths. These sobering statistics do not reflect the extent of the scourge malaria represents for the African population, in particular children.
When pregnant women are infected by malaria, placental infection can lead to poor fetal growth and low birthweight, which in turn can lead to retardation of child growth and poor cognitive outcomes. Children infected with malaria will often experience headaches, vomiting, and seizures. The disease represents a significant burden for school age children, causing repeated school absences, anemia and limitation to cognitive development.
At long last, a safe and effective vaccine, -RTS,S- gives hope that together with other malaria prevention tools, the fight against malaria may accelerate. The vaccine has been successfully piloted in Kenya, Ghana and Malawi. Four years into the pilot, 1,5 million children have received the vaccine. When broadly rolled out in Africa, the vaccine could be a game changer for eradication of malaria on the continent.