The new vaccine is a welcome relief
For Nigerians and many people across the world who have for decades looked forward to a medical solution for the malaria scourge, there is now another reason to rejoice. A cheap malaria vaccine that can be produced on a massive scale has been recommended for use by the World Health Organisation (WHO). It is developed by the University of Oxford with agreements in place to manufacture more than 100 million doses a year. It is considered cheaper and faster to produce than the RTS,S vaccine approved 10 years ago. "I used to dream of the day we would have a safe and effective vaccine against malaria, now we have two," said WHO Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease. Symptoms typically include fever, fatigue, vomiting and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause yellow skin, seizures, coma, or death, as it is the case in Nigeria. For a preventable disease, the number of people who die annually from Malaria in our country is frightening. Nigeria, according to WHO, accounted for 31 per cent of Global Malaria deaths in 2021, with the ranking of the most afflicted. "Malaria is transmitted all over Nigeria; 76 per cent of the population live in high transmission areas, while 24 per cent live in low transmission areas," according to the 2020 World Malaria report. "The transmission season can last all year round in the south and about three months or less in the northern part of the country."
There have also been several programmes and initiatives to combat the disease. In 2000, the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) slogan was launched with fanfare. But the challenge persists. What makes the situation particularly worrisome is that there is a significant slowdown in global funding of anti-malaria campaigns which may roll back impressive gains made against the mosquito-borne disease over the past few decades. Yet to the extent that defeating malaria is critical to ending poverty and improving maternal and child health, Nigeria cannot afford to lag in dealing with the scourge. "The reality is that malaria financing globally is far from where it needs to be and annual deaths from malaria rose during the pandemic and are still above pre-pandemic levels, so we cannot afford to be complacent as new tools are developed," said Gareth Jenkins, from Malaria No More UK.
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Huge resources deployed into curative measures have not succeeded in eradicating the disease that has proved to be the fastest killers of children in the world but most especially in Africa. That therefore explains the excitement about the malaria vaccine which would be targeted at prevention. However, combating Malaria requires multifaceted actions and partnerships involving public and private, international and civil society sectors. The hope is that Nigeria adopts the best possible model and strategy and partnership that would ensure the effective utilisation of the eventual eradication of the scourge.
Fortunately for Nigeria, not only is the current Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammed Ali Pate a globally renowned expert on vaccines, he was until his appointment the chief executive officer of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, a public-private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunisation in poor countries.
It is therefore our hope that Pate will work with authorities in the 36 states on how to secure and deploy the latest vaccines so that, with time, we can eradicate the malaria scourge in Nigeria.
