(C) World Health Organization
This story was originally published by World Health Organization and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Sierra Leone reaches historic milestone as malaria vaccination launched [1]

[]

Date: 2024-05

Freetown ‒ Sierra Leone has one of the highest malaria burdens in the world, with more than 2 million hospital admissions a year, half of which are among children aged under 5 years ‒ accounting for 20% of deaths in this age group.

In addition to the existing tools in the fight against malaria, which include insecticide-treated nets, indoor spraying and effective diagnosis and treatment, two safe and effective vaccines ‒ RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S) and R21 ‒ have been recommended by World Health Organization (WHO) to prevent malaria in children.

In late April 2024, the Government of Sierra Leone, with support from WHO and other partners, launched its first-ever malaria vaccination campaign. The introduction of 550 000 doses of the RTS,S malaria vaccine marks a pivotal moment in the fight against malaria in the country. The vaccine campaign was recently rolled out across 15 of the country’s 16 districts, targeting 6-month-old babies, who are at high risk of malaria-related mortality.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.afro.who.int/photo-story/sierra-leone-reaches-historic-milestone-malaria-vaccination-launched

Published and (C) by World Health Organization
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/who/

You are viewing proxied material from magical.fish. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.