A malaria expert at Johns Hopkins University has warned that vaccines alone will not be enough to stop the spread of malaria as cases and deaths continue to rise globally.
Jane M. Carlton said malaria remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases despite the introduction of new vaccines.
According to the World Health Organization, there were 282 million malaria cases worldwide in 2024, up by about 9 million from 2023. Malaria deaths rose to 610,000 in 2024 from 598,000 the previous year.
Carlton said resistance to artemisinin-based medicines, the main treatment for malaria, has spread to at least eight African countries.
“Such resistance has now been confirmed in at least eight countries in Africa, and there are potential signs of declining efficacy of the drugs that are combined with artemisinin,” she said.
The WHO has also identified growing resistance among mosquitoes to insecticides used in bed nets. In addition, new strains of the malaria parasite are becoming harder to detect because they can evade standard rapid diagnostic tests.
Carlton said another concern is the spread of Anopheles stephensi, a mosquito species resistant to many common insecticides.
Two malaria vaccines, RTS, S and R21, are now being used in 24 countries after being approved by the WHO in 2021 and 2023. However, experts say the vaccines are not fully effective and require four doses, making them difficult to deliver in poor and rural areas.
Carlton said the vaccines work best when combined with other measures such as bed nets, medicines, and mosquito control.
She also pointed to a new treatment, Ganaplacide/lumefantrine, also known as GanLum, as a promising development. Carlton said it is the first new class of malaria drug in more than 25 years.