We are happy to announce that malaria vaccine roll outs by the Ministries of Health in Mali and Guinea were successful, and the first children of the SMV Delivery study cohorts were vaccinated with R21/Matrix-M in Mali in May 2025, and with RTS,S/AS01E in Guinea in September 2025! Both malaria vaccines are provided to children at the age of 5, 6 and 7 months (priming doses) and annually afterwards (booster doses). In our implementation study, we aim to determine the optimal approach to deliver these malaria vaccine boosters in seasonal transmission areas of Mali and Guinea. The first booster doses within our study cohort are planned for spring 2026. 

Malaria forms a major cause of hospital admissions and death among young children in many African countries. Recently, two effective malaria vaccines were approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), but they require booster doses to maintain protective immunity, and debate remains about the best way to implement malaria vaccine booster doses to achieve the highest efficacy, particularly in areas with seasonal malaria transmission. The SMV Delivery consortium brings together expert researchers in the field from Mali, Guinea, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Spain, to compare age-based boosting with seasonal boosting in Guinea, and to compare a seasonal mass community campaign with seasonal provision of boosters through routine childhood vaccination centers in Mali. The project’s results will provide an evidence-based optimal implementation strategy of malaria vaccine boosters in settings with seasonal transmission such as Guinea and Mali and thereby help reduce the burden of malaria in children in these countries.

The kick-off meeting of the EDCTP SMV Delivery project was organized from January 13 to 18, 2025, in Conakry, Republic of Guinea. The meeting was officially opened by his Excellency the Minister of Health and Public Hygiene of Guinea Dr. Oumar Diouhé Bah and attended by representatives of the Guinea and Mali Essential Programs on Immunisation and National Malaria Control Programs (Dr. Daman Keita and Prof. Alioune Camara from Guinea, and Mr Bani Diaby and Colonel Dr. Aissata Koné respectively), as well as amongst others principal investigator for Guinea Dr. Abdoul Habib Beavogui (Centre National de formation et de Recherche en Santé Rurale de Maferinyah, Guinea), project scientific coordinator Prof. Dr. Issaka Sagara (University of Science, Technique and Technologies of Bamako, Mali), consortium coordinator Dr. Matthew McCall (Radboudumc, The Netherlands) and work package leaders Prof. Dr. Daniel Chandramohan (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK) and Dr. Cristina Enguita (ISGlobal, Spain). The goal of this week was to discuss scientific and logistical plans for launch of the project and to visit various stakeholders in Guinea, including the Guinea Essential Program on Immunisation and National Malaria Control Program, as well as health facilities and public health representatives in areas where study activities in Guinea are currently being implemented. Altogether, it was a very successful meeting and provided a firm foundation for the launch of the project.