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The war against malaria received additional boost following the recent Federal Government’s provisional approval for the use of malaria vaccine in children. The R21/Matrix malaria vaccine was developed by scientists at the Oxford University. The government’s approval of malaria vaccine came some days after Ghana became the first country to approve the vaccine, which is reported to be 80 per cent effective. The malaria vaccine is manufactured by the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd.
Disclosing this to newsmen in Abuja, the Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, averred that the vaccine had passed through rigorous test in line with global standard. And following the satisfactory outcome of the tests, the government gave approval for its use in children.
According to the NAFDAC boss, ‘the R21 malaria vaccine is an adjuvanted protein vaccine presented as a sterile solution.’ She says that the vaccine is indicated for prevention of malaria in children from five months to 36 months of age.
The new malaria vaccine, R21, is according to reports, potentially an improved version of another vaccine called, RTS,S, which WHO in October 2021 approved for broad use in regions with significant malaria transmission. Similarly, the WHO also approved the widespread use of the RTS,S/ASO1 (RTS,S) malaria vaccine among children in sub-Saharan Africa as well as other regions with moderate to high P. falciparum malaria. According to reports, the recommendation was based on results from pilot programme in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi that had reached more than 900,000 children since 2019.
The Director-General of WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated then, ‘this is a historic moment. The long-awaited malaria vaccine for children is a breakthrough for science, child health and malaria control.’ The WHO boss enjoined that ‘using this vaccine on top of existing tools to prevent malaria could save tens of thousands of young lives each year.’
Malaria, no doubt, remains a primary cause of childhood illness and death in sub-Saharan Africa. Over 260,000 African children under the age of five die from malaria every year. This can explain why the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, observed: ‘for centuries, malaria has stalked sub-Saharan Africa, causing immense personal suffering.’ On the malaria vaccine approved by WHO, Moeti said: ‘we have long hoped for an effective malaria vaccine and now for the first time ever, we have such a vaccine recommended for widespread use. Today’s recommendation offers a glimmer of hope for the continent which shoulders the heaviest burden of the disease and we expect many more African children to be protected from malaria and grow into healthy adults.’
While we applaud the federal government’s approval of the new malaria vaccine for children, we advise that more clinical trials be conducted in Nigeria on the vaccine to ensure that it is adequate and safe for our children. Beyond the new malaria vaccine, government at all levels must invest heavily in the health sector in order to ensure that all Nigerians have access to adequate and affordable health care.
The 2022 World malaria report showed that there were an estimated 619,000 malaria deaths globally in 2021 compared to 625,000 in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Malaria deaths stood at 568,000 before the pandemic struck in 2019. However, malaria cases continued to rise between 2020 and 2021 but at a slower rate than in the period 2019 to 2020. In all, the global tally of malaria cases reached 247 million in 2021 compared to 245 million in 2020 and 232 million in 2019.
Unfortunately, the WHO African region continues to carry a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden. The region was home to about 95 per cent of all malaria cases and 96 per cent of malaria deaths in 2021. Children under five years of age accounted for about 80 per cent of all malaria deaths in the region.
Nigeria and three other African countries accounted for over half of all malaria deaths globally: Nigeria (31.3 per cent), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (12.6 per cent), United Republic of Tanzania (4.1 per cent) and Niger (3.9 percent). Therefore, we urge the government to do more to win the war against malaria.
