WHO Malaria Report 2023 Spotlights Two Vaccines

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced today that 2022, there were an estimated 249 million malaria cases globally, exceeding the pre-pandemic level in 2019 by 16 million cases.

The WHO's 2023 World Malaria Report, published on November 30, 2023, delves into the changes in temperature, humidity, and rainfall that can influence the behavior and survival of the malaria-carrying Anopheles mosquito.

Extreme weather events, such as flooding in Pakistan in 2022, led to a five-fold increase in malaria cases in the country. 

The new WHO report also cites achievements such as the phased roll-out of the first WHO-recommended malaria vaccine, Mosquirix™ (RTS,S/AS01), in three African countries.

And in October 2023, WHO recommended a second safe and effective malaria vaccine, R21/Matrix-M.

The availability of two malaria vaccines is expected to increase supply and make broad-scale deployment across Africa possible. 

As of late 2023, thee malaria vaccines are not available in the U.S.