Planning for decisions on malaria vaccine use
As the development of malaria vaccines accelerates, work is also underway on the policy front to pave the way for decisions on possible malaria vaccine use.

Early planning is crucial to the successful adoption and introduction of a vaccine. To facilitate the process, several African countries and their international partners are using a malaria vaccine decision-making tool.

The planning tool is designed to help ministries of health prepare to decide, in a timely manner, if and how a vaccine should be introduced into their health systems to complement existing malaria control strategies.

View the Decision-Making Framework tutorial.

Getting things started
A number of institutions and individuals kick-started the decision-making framework process in 2006. The process was guided by a steering committee between 2006 and 2009.

Steering committee members during that period included Dr. Antoinette Ba-Nguz of the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) and Alan Brooks, formerly of MVI. Other members included Dr. Carter Diggs of the United States Agency for International Development; Dr. Dorothée Kinde-Gazard, formerly of the University of Benin; Dr. Georges Ki-Zerbo, Dr. Eusebio Macete, Dr. Kamini Mendis, and Dr. Vasee Moorthy of the World Health Organization (WHO); and John Marshall and Ross Brindle of Energetics Inc.

Consultants Prof. Akanmori Bartholomey and Dr. Rose Macauley developed the initial draft of the implementation strategy. Dr. Boi-Betty Udom of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership secretariat coordinated the organization of the meetings to validate the draft regional decision-making framework tool in Africa’s Western, Central, and Eastern and Southern regions.

Sources of funding
Funding for this work and support for the development of this website has come from various sources, including those listed below:

• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• United States Agency for International Development
• ExxonMobil Foundation