Finally a vaccine against malaria, but things are not going well in Cameroon

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  Saskia Houttuin

  Africa journalist

Vaccination against malaria. For scientists, it seemed that this was a dream for a long time, almost going around the impossible. But after decades of research, a medical breakthrough came this year: parents in Africa can now get vaccinated against mosquito-borne disease, which greatly reduces the risk of death.

Because a child still dies almost every minute from the effects of malaria. Every year, millions of people get the disease, which is transmitted by mosquitoes. 94 percent of them live on the African continent. It is also known as silent killer, especially for young children.

There was a festive atmosphere at the airport of the Cameroonian capital Yaoundé when the first shipment of Mosquirix arrived there a year ago. The drug is one of two malaria vaccines approved by the World Health Organization in recent years.

“We store very valuable medicine here that gives children a chance to live,” said Shalom Tchokfe Ndoula, head of the national immunization program, during a tour of a refrigerated storage facility.

“This prevents the disease from reaching the level of complications: anemia, cerebral malaria. In addition to causing people to suffer a lot, it also causes a lot of poverty.”

A few went in to do that. The first attempts to develop a vaccine against malaria were made as early as the 1980s. But due to financial problems and various international interests, the process was delayed. Since malaria is a parasite, and not a virus or bacteria, it was more complicated.

After several pilot programs in different parts of the African continent, Cameroon was the first country to vaccinate as part of its national vaccination program in January. There are now thirteen countries that do this, and more will follow in the coming years.

But the vaccine is not going to be a starting point in Cameroon, doctors tell NOS. Figures show that less than two thirds of children on average have received the first injection. These numbers decrease even more for the second injection given at 7, 9 and 24 months.

This is partly due to initial logistical problems and the uncertain security situation in parts of the country. But there is also another challenge from the corona pandemic: fake news. “In health care we now see disinfection as our biggest threat,” says Ndoula. “That is the reality we have to live with now. “

Since 2020, the African Infodemic Response Alliance has been monitoring these on a dedicated WHO network fake news trends going around on social media. They have already identified the malaria vaccine several times.

There was a spike in infections, especially around the announcement in Cameroon, according to Hemes Nkwa, an epidemiologist who started a platform that fights fake news in the medical sector in Cameroon, Youth for Health and Development Africa (Yoheda). “Online, campaigners spread messages saying the vaccine would make girls infertile or kill children. “

With her group, Nkwa wants to spread these kinds of messages, through social media and her own website. They also visit schools, where they educate young people about the dangers of fake news. “Once a fake message is online, it’s very difficult to do anything about it,” says Nkwa. “You have to be ahead of it.”

That’s not easy, she admits. In addition, there is more than just what happened after the corona pandemic. In Cameroon, as in many other African countries, there are still signs of the medical experiments that colonizers did on the population a hundred years ago.

For example, French scientists made extensive knowledge of medicine for all types of tropical diseases, including sleeping sickness. Millions of people were held at gunpoint while undergoing medical tests. In Cameroon, medicine was given to some sick or non-sick people who had bad side effects. A certain drug caused 20 percent of those who received it to become (partially) blind.

In these areas the vaccination rate is still lower than in other parts of the country research shows. “All this history is still felt today,” Nkwa says. “It also justifies why people here are still hesitant about vaccines.”

However, doctor Ndoula, who manages the national vaccination program, remains hopeful that the current reality will dawn on the naysayers. He hopes that parents will automatically realize that the vaccine has an effect and that children will not experience any strange side effects. “That’s the best campaign,” he says.