The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has announced that it is preparing to scale up the administration of RST, S malaria vaccines to other parts of the country.
The Director-General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, said in Accra on Wednesday that the pilot which ended in January this year will be expanded to other districts in the next few months.
He was speaking at the launch of this year’s World Malaria Day, slated for April 25 at Hohoe on the theme: “Advance Equity, Build Resilience, End Malaria”.
Dr Kuma-Aboagye said the pilot will be done with the support of the central government and development partners to ensure that more children are protected from the disease.
“We are still in discussions and preparations to determine where the expansion will be, depending on vaccine availability and resources in Ghana,” he said.
On April 30, 2019, a pilot project for the vaccination of children with the RST, S malaria vaccine was launched in Ghana and piloted in the Brong Ahafo, Central, Volta regions and some districts in the Upper East Region.
During the pilot, from May 2019 to January 2022, Ghana administered a total of 1,051,820 doses of the four doses of RST, S malaria vaccine.
In October 2021, the vaccine was endorsed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for “broad use” in children, making it the first malaria vaccine to receive this recommendation.
Dr Kuma-Aboagye said presently, the world keeps battling malaria, putting a huge strain on health infrastructure and hindering the uptake of interventions for other health conditions.
Malaria, he said, remains a significant public health concern in Ghana, despite progress made in the fight.
“In Ghana, malaria is the number one cause of outpatient attendances and occurs throughout the year with varying transmission across the months in the year,” he revealed.
In 2021, there were 5,733,013 confirmed malaria cases and 391,052 admissions recorded in public health facilities.
He said Ghana is one of the 10 highest countries burdened with malaria, and the burden is not only felt in the health sector but in other sectors.
Dr Kuma-Aboagye added that despite progress made in the containment of the disease, there was the need for Ghana to mobilise resources to scale up proven interventions equitably to those who needed them.
“We, as a country, need to build resilience, which will entail building systems and strategies that are sustainable beyond donor support and eventually end malaria,” he stated.
Dr Keziah Malm, Programme Manager, National Malaria Control Programme, said the entire population is as risk as malaria contributes to the highest disease expenditure on the National health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
She said malaria is highly prevalent in five districts – Shia Osudoku, Ablekuma Central, Hohoe, Ayawaso West, Tema West and Asokwa – and had been earmarked for pre-elimination activities.
