UNICEF secures lower malaria vaccine prices

It was reported on November 24 that UNICEF is now targeting a reduction in the cost of the malaria vaccine.

According to Africa News, the new agreement will help make the vaccine more affordable. The price will be lowered to around $3 and is expected to take effect in the next year. The deal, supported by Gavi and carried out by UNICEF, is expected to generate over $90 million.

This funding will help produce an additional 30 million doses and allow health programmes to target 7 million children over the next five years.

In March 2025, scientists at Imperial College London announced that they were developing a new genetic modification designed to render malaria-transmitting mosquitoes incapable of spreading the virus to humans.

Researchers were working in an insectarium filled with cages of mosquitoes, specifically the female insects that transmit the malaria parasite.

A geneticist at Imperial College London, Dr Nikolai Windbichler, explained that, “These are exogenous genes that we bring into the mosquito. They are known antimicrobial molecules from other species. For example, one of them we are using is from the honeybee. We need this modification to propagate and spread so that every malaria-transmitting mosquito in Africa will eventually carry this.”

Before this experiment proceeds, rigorous testing and validation are required before it can be used in the field.

This follows research by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which endorsed two malaria vaccines. The vaccines provided safe and effective protection against malaria in children; however, malaria still presents a major global health challenge.

The disease is one of the deadliest in the world and caused almost 600,000 deaths in 2023 alone.

Around 95 per cent of these deaths are among children who are under the age of 5, and within certain areas in Africa, there is still a low rate of basic prevention and treatment, which makes it incredibly difficult to manage when children get sick.

Uganda has also suffered due to malaria cases, and in 2023, 16,000 deaths occurred due to the disease, with most of the cases being children and pregnant women.

For many countries, the cost of the vaccine is extremely high. However, with this new agreement in place, there is hope that treatment will become more accessible to people in need and that we will see a drop in malaria-related cases.