Rwanda is taking part in discussions with several international stakeholders, as part of efforts for the country to acquire the malaria vaccine.
In a ground-breaking development, in October last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) approved the widespread use of the RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S) malaria vaccine among children in sub-Saharan Africa and in other regions with moderate to high P. falciparum malaria transmission.
P. falciparum is the deadliest malaria parasite globally and the most prevalent in Africa.
WHO's decision to recommend the vaccine was based on results from a pilot programme carried out in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi that showed that the vaccine had good results after being used on more than 800,000 children since 2019.
In an interview with The New Times, Dr. Aimable Mbituyumuremyi, the Head of the National Malaria Control Program, other Parasitic Diseases and Neglected Tropical Diseases Division within the Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC), said that Rwanda is taking part in discussions with several countries and global malaria vaccines partners to see which countries are in need of the vaccine, the eligibility criteria and vaccine access channels.
When the approval of the vaccine was announced last year, Mbituyumuremyi told The New Times about its importance, as he expressed optimism that it can play a role in fighting the disease, alongside the already existing measures.
"When you look at the efficacy of the vaccine, you can’t say it should be used alone. It does not come in to replace the measures in place, but rather, should be used hand in hand with them to give more results,” he said.
He also talked about the fact that the vaccine is for children under the age of 5, saying it is something good, since children are much affected by malaria in Rwanda.
According to statistics of 2020/2021, about 40 percent of the people that were killed by malaria in Rwanda were children under the age of five.
In general, the malaria epidemic has been waning recently in the country.In 2020/2021, the number of people who suffered from the disease were about 1000,400 in the country, a significant decrease from the 2.5 million who suffered from it in 2019/2020.