In the DRC, malaria has caused more than 24,000 deaths and affected more than 27 million people, mainly children under five years old, according to data from the report produced in 2022 by the Ministry of Health. In June, the country received 693,500 doses of R21/Matrix-M vaccine, recommended by the WHO and intended to vaccinate children aged 6 to 23 months against malaria.
On Thursday, the first doses of this vaccine were administered by injection to children aged at least 6 months in Mbanza-Ngungu, a town located in the province of Kongo-central (west), according to this press release. According to the WHO, the DRC becomes the 15th African country to offer vaccination against malaria, “thus expanding access to more comprehensive disease prevention.”
In its plan to combat malaria for the period 2024-2028, the DRC aims to protect 80% of populations at risk, notably by distributing insecticide-treated mosquito nets and extending preventive treatments for pregnant women. and infants, the document adds.
Malaria, also called malaria, is a disease transmitted to humans through the bites of certain types of mosquitoes. It kills more than 600,000 people each year, 95% of them in Africa, according to the WHO.
On the continent, “a child dies from malaria every minute”according to the organization. Malaria vaccines were first introduced in April 2019 in Malawi, then in Kenya and Ghana, and demonstrated according to the WHO that the vaccine “substantially reduced serious cases” of the disease.
