March 2023: Kenya expanded its national immunization campaign against malaria

Kenya expanded its national immunization campaign against malaria on March 7 by adding eight endemic counties around the Lake Victoria basin to a pilot program that started in 2019. The expansion—to Bungoma, Busia, Kakamega, Kisumu, Migori Homabay, Siaya and Vihiga counties—will take place over the next two weeks and comes in response to the discovery of a new invasive species of mosquito. Intended to run annually, the campaign is targeting 400,000 children under age 2. Despite somewhat high costs and low efficacy, the vaccine has resulted in a more than 10% drop in children’s deaths in the three countries included in the pilot, per WHO. PATH; Africa.com; The Standard; Xinhua; WHO