Benin announced that it had received its first doses of vaccine against malaria, the leading cause of child mortality in the country, on Monday evening (January 16th) and that it would begin administering them in the coming months.
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Malaria remains endemic and is the leading cause of death among children under 5 years of age in Benin," Beninese Minister of Health Benjamin Hounkpatin told the press at Cotonou airport, where he officially received 215,900 doses of RTS,S vaccine.
The first vaccinations will take place "within a few months," he added. In Benin, 40% of outpatient consultations and 25% of hospital admissions are related to malaria, according to the minister. The vaccine received is intended to immunize "about 200,000 children" under the age of two in the country, Faustin Yao, an immunization specialist at Unicef's office in Benin, told AFP, according to a four-dose vaccination schedule at 6 months, 7 months, 9 months and 18 months.
Pilot phase
Benin is the third country to receive malaria vaccine doses after Cameroon and Sierra Leone, following a pilot phase in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi coordinated by the World Health Organization and funded by the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), the Global Fund and Unitaid.
More than 2 million children have been vaccinated in the three African countries, leading to a "dramatic decline" in mortality and a significant drop in severe malaria and hospitalisation, Gavi says. According to the WHO, almost every minute, a child under the age of 5 dies from malaria.
Caused by a parasite transmitted by certain types of mosquitoes, this disease remains a formidable scourge due to its increasing resistance to treatment. In 2021, 247 million cases were recorded worldwide, and 619,000 patients died, according to the WHO, which specifies that the disease mainly affects the African continent (95% of cases and 96% of deaths).