Zambia is poised to massively benefit from the announced approval of a long awaited malaria vaccine that is seen as a breakthrough for Africa where the tropical disease is estimated to account for over 400,000 deaths annually.
Faith Leader Advocacy for Malaria Elimination (FLAME) says the just approved malaria vaccine by the World Health Organisation (WHO) will save the country huge sums of money which is spent on various malaria programmes.
FLAME National Advocacy Coordinator Amu Mudenda said government spends a lot of money on malaria drugs, test kits and preventive measures like Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) and mosquito nets therefore the vaccine would save the country some of those costs.
Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Mudenda said 7.2 million cases of malaria were recorded last year, which means government bought more than 7.2 million test kits as that number only accounted for positive test kits.
He said the approval of the malaria vaccine by WHO is a step in the right direction to reducing government expenditure on malaria interventions as the vaccine would reduce the number of malaria cases, which in turn reduces how much money government spends on malaria programmes.
Mudenda noted that a reduction in malaria cases would mean government could channel funds that it previously spent on malaria interventions on other developmental projects adding that there will be more productivity in the business community as malaria cases among adults would reduce.
The FLAME leader told ZBT that this would also allow behavioral changes among people as well as improve the use of mosquito nets and increase the number of households willing to have their houses sprayed as a way of preventing malaria. Mudenda said the development would make worker easier for the organisation in terms of sensitisation.
WHO has approved a malaria vaccine that has been developed using some of the technology that enabled the record development of Covid vaccines. The ministry of health in Zambia is yet to do a comprehensive financial and health impact report on this new Malaria vaccine.
The Ministry of health in Zambia has set up the National Malaria Elimination Centre that has been charged with the responsibility for the design, implementation, and monitoring of Zambia malaria activities since 1997. It remains to be seen how it’s programs will be affected.
