Chad launches three life-saving vaccines in historic step for child health

In a landmark step forward for child health, Chad announces the launch of vaccines against malaria, pneumococcal infections, and rotavirus.

Vaccination is vital for protecting children from disease

In a transformative leap for child health, Chad has introduced vaccines for malaria, pneumococcal infections, and rotavirus into its national immunisation programme. Supported by Gavi, UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners, this historic rollout addresses three of the most lethal diseases affecting children under five. This is a huge step forward in preventing child mortality and morbidity in the country.  

Chad has been one of the last countries to introduce pneumococcal vaccine into its national Expanded Programme on Immunization. It is also one of 59 countries not on track to meet the sustainable development goal for child mortality by 2030. Among child mortality cases in Chad, childhood pneumonia, malaria and diarrhoeal disease make up the top three leading causes of death. Vaccination is a critical intervention to prevent these diseases, reducing hospital admissions and the burden of childhood illness on child development and household expenditure. 

This major achievement builds on years of research and advocacy by many partners, including the Every Breath Counts Coalition and Malaria Consortium, who have worked closely alongside Chad’s Ministry of Health to pave the way for these essential immunisations. Recently, Malaria Consortium published findings showing that scaling up pneumonia interventions, including the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), could halve pneumonia-related child deaths in Chad by 2030. This research, conducted in Chad, Bangladesh and Ethiopia, projects that improved intervention coverage could save 76,470 lives in Chad alone. For a country where pneumonia accounts for nearly a third of child deaths, introduction of the PCV is a breakthrough. 

In September 2023, the Every Breath Counts coalition convened a pivotal meeting to engage policymakers and health leaders across Chad, Guinea, Somalia, and South Sudan. Organisations including Malaria Consortium, Mérieux Foundation, Every Breath Counts, and Save the Children co-hosted a key workshop in N’Djamena, where representatives tackled funding and infrastructure challenges impacting on vaccine readiness. 

Alongside PCV, the newly introduced rotavirus vaccine is expected to prevent severe diarrhoea in nearly half of all cases, reducing the strain on the country’s health facilities and preventing life-threatening dehydration in young children. The phased rollout of the malaria vaccine in high-incidence areas aligns with Chad’s goal of reducing malaria-related deaths by 90 percent by 2030, supporting the WHO’s global malaria targets. 

Beyond vaccine delivery, Malaria Consortium has been instrumental in shaping the evidence base for child health interventions in low- and middle-income countries, where childhood pneumonia receives just three percent of infectious disease research funding, despite accounting for 13 percent of under-five deaths globally. To address this disparity, Malaria Consortium developed the child pneumonia research investment scorecard, which identifies critical gaps in funding and focuses on operational research and health system capacities. This tool, backed by the Every Breath Counts Coalition, aims to guide resources to areas of greatest need, ensuring that countries like Chad receive the support required to achieve meaningful and sustainable improvements in child health. 

“Malaria Consortium was pleased to contribute to research and development of the national childhood pneumonia strategy in 2022 to 2023, and it is exciting to see the Ministry of Health’s progress in addressing this ambition for childhood pneumonia and child health overall,” says Elizabeth Berryman, Senior Technical Advisor at Malaria Consortium. 

As Chad enters this new phase of immunisation, the combined efforts of local and global partners illustrate how research-based advocacy can bring transformative health improvements, offering a brighter future for children across the country. 

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