In early September 2019, Kenya became the third country to administer the only licensed malaria vaccine. The first recipients of this vaccine were at-risk children in rural areas.
Malaria is a deadly mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite that kills around 435,000 people each year, with around 92% of those deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of malaria’s victims are children under five. It kills one child every two minutes.
Even with improved treatments around the world, we still seem no closer to eradicating malaria. But, a widely-used vaccine could be the first step in saving another 435,000 lives from the disease.