February 2023: Ghana expands its national campaign against malaria

Ghana expanded its national campaign against malaria on February 21, adding 51 districts in seven regions to the 42 districts included in the pilot program that started in 2019. Health workers are administering Mosquirix, which earned WHO prequalification status last year. The vaccine has also been introduced in national efforts in Kenya and Malawi: these countries, like Ghana, have consequently seen a “substantial reduction in deadly severe malaria, with a drop in child hospitalizations and child deaths,” according to WHO’s Ghana Country Office. As of December 2022, almost 460,000 children in Ghana had received at least one dose and 184,418 had undergone the complete four-dose regimen. The campaign is slated to end in December. WHO Ghana; Ghana MoH