In June 2022 the World Health Organisation (WHO) released it’s “Framework for the allocation of limited malaria vaccine supply”. The Framework offers guidance on prioritization and global allocation of RTS,S/AS01, and other malaria vaccines, between countries and is intended to support prioritization decisions during vaccine roll-out. The Framework was developed for policy makers in malaria-endemic countries, vaccine manufacturer(s), the Vaccine Alliance and other funding, implementing and technical partners.
Based on most recent data from the Malaria Atlas Project (MAP), more than 30 countries have geographic areas with moderate to high P. falciparum malaria transmission where the vaccine could provide additional protection against malaria to more than 25 million children per year.
WHO developed framework principles and key considerations when making allocation decisions. The first priority principle: Greatest need, allocates the vaccine to countries with areas of greatest need, where the malaria disease burden in children and the risk of death are highest. The proposed measure for greatest need is a composite index that combines levels of P. falciparum parasite prevalence rate (PfPR) in children and under-five all-cause mortality rate (U5MR). District level mean estimates of PfPR data are supplied by MAP and can be viewed on our website.
The second priority principle: Maximize health impact, allocates the vaccine to countries for use in areas where the expected health impact is greatest. This health impact can be modelled via the MAP website.
The greatest need is defined and measured by combining sub-national levels of P.falciparum parasite prevalence rate (PfPR) in children and under-five all-cause mortality rate (U5MR). These areas of greatest need can be identified using MAP data. MAP houses the world’s largest malaria database and provides country-modelled estimates which can be leveraged to guide in-country decision.