The Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) – a global group of R&D organizations – recently honored partners that developed and are now collaborating on the pilot of the world’s first malaria vaccine (RTS,S) with its Partnership Award. The annual award recognizes model public-private partnerships that advance innovation to solve global health challenges, such as malaria.
Dr Mary Hamel accepted the award on behalf of WHO and the Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme, joining those involved in the discovery and development of the RTS,S vaccine – including representatives from PATH, GSK and the U.S. Department of Defense’s Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR).
Members of the U.S. Congress, leaders of U.S. agencies, and more than 120 scientists, experts and advocates from the global R&D, malaria and immunization communities attended the ceremony in Washington, D.C. on 13 November.
In her event remarks, Dr Hamel said: “We have reached a critical period in malaria control. In the last three years progress has stalled, and it is particularly concerning that 10 African countries reported an increase in malaria cases between 2016 and 2017. It is an important time for new tools and this vaccine may be one of those tools.”
The vaccine pilot will help us learn more about the public health use of the vaccine and will inform WHO recommendations on broader use of the vaccine in sub-Saharan Africa, she explained.
Dr. Hamel thanked the U.S. government for their support of malaria control efforts – through its support of the President’s Malaria Initiative; The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and the WRAID, among other health investments – and she encouraged more resources for R&D.
RTS,S is the first vaccine to reduce malaria in young African children. Thirty years in the making, the vaccine is now in pilot implementation in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi.