Vaccination to mitigate climate-driven disruptions to malaria control in Madagascar.

Abstract

Extreme weather is common in high malaria burden areas and is likely to increase in severity owing to climate change-related severe weather events. Yet, data on infection rates after these events and the consequences for planning disease control programs remain rare. Data on malaria infection in the wake of major tropical cyclones in Madagascar show that infection is likely to rebound rapidly during the gaps in interventions that occur after extreme events. Relative to other control options, recently available malaria vaccines have a longer duration of protection, with the potential to address interruptions in prevention and treatment deployment. Evaluating the use of vaccination in a climate context, we quantified the reduction in symptomatic infections expected for a range of vaccination scenarios.