“WHO Urges Intensified Efforts on World Malaria Day 2023”

The World Health Organization (WHO) has made an appeal, on the occasion of the world malaria dayto intensify the application “more effectivelyof existing and new life-saving interventions against this disease.

Nearly 1.5 million children at high risk of illness and death from malaria in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi have already received their first dose of the first malaria vaccineRTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S), thanks to an ongoing pilot program coordinated by WHO.

Los malaria vaccine pilot programslaunched in 2019, are increasing equity in access to malaria prevention for the most vulnerable and saving lives. If they are widely appliedthe WHO estimates that malaria vaccines could save the lives of “tens of thousands of children every year“.

“We have the tools to reduce malaria: a package of interventions that includes vector control, preventive drugs, testing and treatment. Added to these are a safe and effective malaria vaccine, which could save the lives of dozens of thousands of children every year. With sustained investment and intensified efforts to reach the people most at risk, the elimination of malaria in many countries is within reach,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

World Malaria Day 2023 is celebrated under the motto ‘It’s time to achieve malaria zero: invest, innovate, implement‘. Within this slogan, the WHO urges a “more effective application of available tools and strategies to prevent, diagnose and treat malaria, especially among marginalized populations.”

According to the latest World Malaria Report, published in December 2022, an estimated 247 million new cases of malaria occurred in 2021.

The WHO African Region continues to bear the heaviest burden of the disease, with an estimated 95 percent of all malaria cases (234 million) and 96 percent of all deaths (593,000) in 2021. Almost 80 percent of malaria deaths in the African Region occurred in children under five years of age.

Prospects for new interventions

According to the WHO, the continued investment in the development and deployment of new vaccines against malaria and next-generation tools “will be key to achieving global malaria targets by 2030.”

In this regard, they point out that a second malaria vaccine, the R21/Matrix-M (R21) vaccine, if approved, could “help close the considerable gap between supply and demand and further reduce childhood illnesses and deaths.” for malaria.”

“It is a priority for the WHO continue with the comprehensive and efficient review of the malaria vaccine R21 by experts, once additional key safety and efficacy data from the ongoing R21 phase 3 trial are available and provided to WHO.”

It is expected that the phased introduction of RTS,S malaria vaccine in other African countries it starts at the beginning of 2024, according to the information provided by the WHO.

In it field of vector control, there are 28 new products in the research and development phase. Among the tools being evaluated are, for example, new types of insecticide treated mosquito netsselective baits that attract mosquitoes, space repellents, lethal lures for houses (eave tubes), and mosquito genetic engineering.