Nearly 10 million malaria vaccine doses were delivered to Africa during the first year of routine immunisation being rolled out across the continent, the Gavi vaccine alliance said Wednesday.

The mosquito-borne disease kills nearly 600,000 people a year, the vast majority in Africa, with children heavily affected, according to the World Health Organization.

In a pilot phase from 2019 to 2023, more than two million children were jabbed with the RTS,S vaccine in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi, resulting in substantial reductions in severe malaria illness and hospitalisations.

The pilot also resulted in a 13-percent drop in mortality, said WHO, which now recommends RTS,S alongside R21/Matrix-M to vaccinate against malaria.

Following the pilot, routine malaria vaccination was rolled out in those three countries and 14 others, starting in Cameroon in January 2024.

Gavi said more than 9.8 million doses had since been delivered, estimating that five million children have received a degree of protection.

The programme aims to administer four vaccine doses to each child, which, Gavi said, stressing that it was seeking to "consistently reach those at highest risk in every country".

It hailed "promising early results" from Cameroon, with reduced deaths in children under five.

"In a high-burden country like Cameroon, where malaria claims more than 13,000 lives each year and represents close to 30 percent of all hospital consultations, each percentage point reduction in cases, deaths and consultations represents lives transformed," said Gavi chief Sania Nishtar.

Malaria burden in Africa

Overall, Africa accounts for approximately 94 percent of global malaria cases and 95 percent of related deaths, according to WHO.

There were 263 million reported malaria cases in 2023, up from 252 million in 2022.

But the number of deaths from the mosquito-borne disease fell back slightly from 600,000 in 2022 to 597,000 in 2023.

More than half the deaths occurred in just four countries: Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger and Tanzania.

Children under five accounted for about 76 percent of all malaria deaths in Africa.

Gavi said it planned to expand into up to eight further African countries this year, in a move "expected to protect an additional 13 million children".

And from 2026 to 2030, Gavi said it "aims to help countries protect a further 50 million children with four doses of the malaria vaccine".