Ghana has become the first country in the world to introduce a new Oxford University malaria vaccine, a potential breakthrough in the fight against a disease that kills hundreds of thousands of children every year.
The mosquito-borne parasitic disease kills more than 600,000 people each year. Most children live in sub-Saharan Africa.
A new malaria vaccine called R21 has received regulatory approval from Ghanaian authorities for use in the age group most likely to die from malaria – children aged 5 to 36 months, Oxford University said in a statement on Wednesday.
Malaria is endemic in Ghana. The West African country’s health service says it accounts for 38% of all outpatients, with the most vulnerable group being children under the age of 5.
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“We have tested so many vaccines – and to be here now to have a vaccine approved for use in Ghana for the first time – is amazing. That’s what we’ve all worked so hard for,” said Dr. Katie Ewer, Chair of the Division of Malaria Immunology and Professor of Vaccine Immunology at the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford.
Ewer said R21 was more effective – about 75% in the Phase 2 study data. “We think the persistence of the response was better too,” she said.
Ghana was one of three African countries to test the first malaria vaccine called RTS, S. in 2019, but public uptake of the vaccine fell just short of the target due to parental hesitation combined with fear of the unknown, health officials said.
“Having more malaria vaccines on the market helps parents make better choices,” Ewer says.
The World Health Organization says one child dies from malaria every minute in Africa, where an estimated nine out of ten deaths are from malaria. The new vaccine aims to help Ghanaian and African children fight malaria.
