The first malaria vaccine in Kenya: the view from health professionals, community leaders and parents

2 April 2023

Nearly 4 years after the introduction of the RTS,S/AS01 (or RTS,S) malaria vaccine in parts of Kenya, the WHO Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme (MVIP) team visited government offices, health facilities and homes in the country’s western region to hear from health professionals, community members and caregivers about what the malaria vaccine means to them and how the 4-dose vaccine is being integrated into the national immunization programme.

The feedback received was extremely positive. More than 4.5 million doses have been provided through the countries’ Expanded Programmes on Immunization during the pilot introductions in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi. The vaccine has been shown to be safe and effective, reducing life-threatening severe malaria and child deaths. The high community demand for the vaccine may present opportunities to bring children back to clinics to catch up on any missed vaccines or child health services.

The first malaria vaccine was recommended for use to prevent malaria in children in October 2021. More than 1.4 million children have received the vaccine across the 3 pilot countries since 2019, of which, 400 000 children in Kenya have received at least their first dose. If implemented broadly, the vaccine could save tens of thousands of lives each year.

But what does this mean in practice and day-to-day life? Here is what we saw and heard in Kenya.

1. Dr Samuel Akech, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kenya

“We have learned that this vaccine saves lives. From the data we collected from the evaluation of the vaccine in public health use we have seen there is significant reduction in deaths due to malaria in children who receive the vaccine. The second thing is we have seen significant reductions in the number of children admitted to hospitals with severe malaria among those who receive the vaccine.”

“The vaccine really has a great impact and with this vaccine added to other malaria control tools we expect to have a lot of benefits and we expect that this will result in further reduction of child mortality in regions that still have a significant malaria burden.”

2. Dr Rose Jalang’o, Lead for the malaria vaccine, National Vaccines and Immunization Programme, Ministry of Health, Kenya

“We have witnessed the community using both the malaria vaccine and continuing to use the other malaria control interventions that have been given by the national malaria control programme. Finally, we been able to get an additional intervention that will help ensure our children live beyond their 1^st birthday and even beyond 5 years of age.”

3. Dr Gordon Okomo, Director of Health, Homa Bay County

“Homa Bay County lies in the endemic region for malaria, and malaria is our number one cause of mortality and morbidity, particularly for the under-1s and the under-5s. It’s sad as a medical doctor to see people die out of something that is preventable.”

“I think we’re lucky as a country to have the malaria vaccine, and we thank all the researchers who have been behind this new innovation for those 30 years.”

4. Maureen Atieno, Nurse in charge, Maternal Child Health clinic, Homa Bay County Teaching and Referral Hospital

“[The] 4-dose malaria vaccine since it was introduced has been an opportunity to help us follow clients over 2 years and also has been an opportunity to improve the uptake of other vaccines, like [second dose of] measles-rubella, into the 2^nd year of life.

I can say it means a lot to me because prevention is better than cure. So fewer resources will be used to attend to the sick children, but a simple intervention like immunization will be able to protect our infants.”

5. Leonard, Assistant Chief, Muhoroni Sub-county

“Initially there were lots of deaths in the area, but that has changed. I used to write a lot of death certificates, but that has reduced.”

6. Deborah Marie, Community Health Volunteer, Kisumu County, with her son

“Right now, I can walk with my malaria rapid diagnostic tests, and maybe in a month I use 3 or 4 tests to look for malaria cases. Before that I could use 10 just to check on malaria and get maybe 8 cases out of 10, or more than that. But now I can get maybe 1 or 2 cases of malaria in a month. So, the malaria cases are really going down and it is also helping the workload of the facility.”

7. Margaret with her 10-month-old daughter Stella, at Homa Bay County Teaching and Referral Hospital

“The malaria vaccine is important to Stella because it protects the child from malaria, and it is equally important to me because if the child is sick the mother is always unhappy. So, to me I will be happy when Stella is healthy and active, and it will lessen my burden.”

8. Sarah, with her 6-month-old grandson, Adrian, at Chemelil health center, Muhuroni sub-county

“Malaria is dangerous, it kills if not well treated. I bring him for his vaccines because my daughter is busy going to school and he cannot wait for his vaccines. The malaria vaccine, it means a lot to me because it helps the child not to get sick each and every time. I hope for him to grow up healthily so one day he can help me as a grandmother. I want all the best for him.”

9. Vivienne with 4 of her children, 2 of whom have received the malaria vaccine, in front of her rural home in Kisumu County

“Thank you World Health Organization. Keep on with the vaccination programme. Don’t lose hope because you have helped us a lot with our children. Our children are growing up healthy and strong.”