Twelve African nations will receive the malaria vaccine, according to a statement from the World Health Organization, Global Vaccine Alliance, and UNICEF.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the organizations said that over the next two years, the countries would receive 18 million doses of the first-ever malaria vaccine.

Since four years ago, more than 1.6 million kids in Kenya, Ghana, and Malawi have received the RTS,S vaccination, which has been proven to be both safe and effective.

According to NAN, it led to a significant decrease in child fatalities and severe malaria.

According to WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus, malaria continues to be one of the deadliest diseases in Africa, claiming the lives of almost 500,000 children under the age of five every year and accounting for approximately 96 percent of global malaria deaths in 2021.

Ghebreyesus mentioned this during his regular media briefing from Geneva. “Mosquitoes that carry these diseases are increasing in density and spreading further afield as the climate crisis is changing weather patterns,” he said.

Nine additional African countries will be able to include the vaccine for the first time to their regular immunization programs thanks to the initial distribution of eighteen million doses.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burkina Faso, Niger, Uganda, Benin, Liberia, Burundi, Sierra Leone, and Cameroon are some of these nations.

The first dosages should come in the last quarter of this year, and the deployment should begin in the early months of 2024.