In Ethiopia, the first full course of vaccination of children with the R21 malaria vaccine has been completed in a refugee camp. The campaign was carried out by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in the Kule camp, where more than 55,000 refugees from South Sudan live.
The project marked a dual breakthrough: R21 was used in Ethiopia for the first time, and nowhere in the world had vaccination in a camp setting previously reached the final stage. The trigger was a malaria outbreak in the camp in 2024, when infection levels reached a five-year high. In response, MSF launched a combined strategy: vaccination and additional preventive measures such as treating living spaces and distributing insecticide-treated nets. As a result, malaria mortality in the camp’s main hospital fell by almost 50% compared with the previous year.
Many refugee camps are located in regions with a high risk of malaria and limited access to healthcare. The success of the campaign in Kule creates an important precedent for using R21 in similar settings around the world.
