Cameroon receives first set of malaria vaccines
At least 2.7 million people suffer from malaria each year in Cameroon. This is the reason why the United Nations has donated malaria vaccines to the country.
The first set of the vaccines, 331,000 doses, were received by public health boss, Manaouda Malachie, at the Yaounde-Nsimalen airport on November 21, 2023.
According to the minister, the vaccines will be administered only to children aged 6 to 24 months, in the 42 districts of the country most affected by malaria. Children will receive 4 doses: a first dose at the age of 6 months, a second at 7 months, a third at 9 months and a fourth at 24 months.
“Cameroon is one of 11 countries that still have a fairly heavy burden in terms of mortality linked to malaria and we especially lose newborns. Today we have a shipment of vaccines which will go to 42 districts across the country,” the Minister said.
“Globally, it is estimated that around 250 million cases occured in the world and close to 600,000 deaths occured in the world. 95% occures in our regions,” he added.
“It is a celebration for Cameroon to receive this first dose of vaccine, the number of doses are going to increase progressively. This year, it will be about 4million, next year, 6 million, the year after, 8 million. I want to celebrate several partners who came together to support the government of Cameroon.”
In July 2023, Gavi, WHO and UNICEF revealed that 18 million doses of the first-ever malaria vaccine were allocated to 12 African countries for 2023–2025.
The countries are Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Niger, Sierra Leone and Uganda,
