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Africa is gradually making strides in fighting malaria across the continent through the Accelerating Malaria Vaccine Introduction and Rollout in Africa (AMVIRA) initiative.
As Burundi, Chad, Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Niger are gearing up for the introduction and rollout of the malaria vaccines, the World Health Organization (WHO) with funding from PATH and partners convened stakeholders from these countries to learn from Benin, Ghana, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Liberia, and Sierra Leone’s malaria vaccination experience and ensure adequate preparation towards new introductions and rollout across these countries.
In addition, the intercountry peer learning is building capacities on the vaccines RTS, S, R21, and its monitoring tools to enhance readiness for successful vaccine rollout following the high interest and preparation for its introduction in about 20 more African countries.
“The vaccines are important for reducing malaria in young children, providing an important new tool to combat malaria. There is huge interest as we have seen, and PATH timely support is significantly appreciated”. Dr Konan Kouame Jean, WHO Representative Benin underscored.
Participants gained insights into vaccine introduction, digitalization of data management, vaccine risk communication, readiness monitoring, and supervision, among others. Additionally, a field visit to malaria vaccination centres was organized to provide participants with firsthand experience in Benin’s vaccination process.
“PATH is committed to health equity and the inter-country learning platform is creating a network of experts in accelerating the malaria vaccinations in countries”, Mr John Bawa, Director of malaria Vaccines Implementation, PATH expressed.
As Africa continues to shoulder 94% of the global malaria burden, WHO and its partners including UNICEF and Gavi are strengthening malaria control efforts with vaccines being the latest in the control toolbox. In January 2024, the WHO Regional Office for Africa established the Accelerating Malaria Vaccine Introduction and Rollout in Africa (AMVIRA).
This initiative aims to strengthen the provision of technical support to Member States in their efforts to introduce and roll out malaria vaccines while strengthening partners’ coordination at national, regional, and global levels effectively and efficiently.
So far, African countries including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Liberia, and Sierra Leone are rolling out the malaria vaccine into routine immunization. Since 2019, Ghana, Malawi, and Kenya have been rolling out the malaria vaccine as part of a pilot programme, reaching 2.5 million children as of December 2023.
WHO and partners also leveraged the workshop to address information gaps and share lessons and best practices to ensure successful scale-up of vaccine introduction and rollout in countries. Participants expressed sincere appreciation for the workshop, highlighting the significance and the knowledge gained which will help shape their strategies towards effective malaria vaccine rollout.
“One of the key lessons we picked in Benin, is the effective use of risk communications and consistent information sharing all through the rollout. We also picked other lessons from Ghana and Sierra Leone’s implementation including the use of data management and monitoring tools to accelerate the vaccine rollout”. Jean Crispin Mukendi, Deputy Manager for the Expanded Program on Immunization in the Democratic Republic of Congo noted.
In addition to facilitating the cross-learning, WHO through AMVIRA have deployed experts in immunization, data management, risk communication, and external communication to assist 5 countries in efficiently planning and delivering the vaccines.
Dr Joseph Biey, Country Support and Operation Pillar Lead for AMVIRA emphasized: “With more investment, we can together beat malaria in Africa”.
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