Niger has become the latest West African country to roll out malaria vaccines to try to stifle the potentially deadly disease, an official source told AFP on Friday.

Niamey launched a large-scale vaccination campaign with the first drive Thursday in the southwestern city of Gaya, a hotspot for the mosquito-borne disease, said Health Minister Garba Hakimi.

In 2022, malaria caused more than 600,000 deaths worldwide—95 percent of them in Africa and 80 percent of them children under the age of five, according to World Health Organization (WHO) data.

The anti-malarial remedy RTS,S—made by the UK’s pharmaceutical group GSK—has been added to the routine vaccination calendar in Niger, which approved it in 2022, the WHO said in a statement.

The inoculation campaign is expected to lower the mortality rate in children, as malaria makes up 19 percent of child deaths in the country, Hakimi said.

The vaccine is estimated to be 75-percent effective in protecting against severe forms of malaria, which causes fever, headaches and chills.

Five million cases are recorded in Niger on average every year, with more than 5,000 resulting in death.

In addition to the rollout, Hakimi said Niger would uphold its anti-malarial strategy by continuing to distribute free repellent mosquito nets.

It will also administer preventive medication to children ahead of the wet season, when the disease flares up.

Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and the Central African Republic are among the West African countries that have authorized a malaria vaccine in recent months.

RTS,S is one of the two malaria vaccines for children recommended by WHO, along with R21/Matrix-M manufactured by the Indian giant Serum Institute of India.

© 2024 AFP