Kenya becomes 3rd African nation to introduce world's first malaria vaccine

"We still have an incidence of 27% (malaria infection) for children under five," Masasabi said before Friday's launch of the vaccine in the western county of Homa Bay.

The Homa Bay programme was the government's first step toward creating awareness of the new vaccine, he said.

African nations Ghana and Malawi launched their pilot programmes of the vaccine earlier this year. Kenya plans to roll out the vaccine to eight of its 47 counties over the next two years, Masasabi said.

Malaria can be eradicated within a generation, global health experts said in a major report last weekend that was commissioned by The Lancet medical journal. The Lancet report contradicted the conclusions last month of a malaria review by the World Health Organization, and its experts urged the WHO not to shy away from this "goal of epic proportions".

Malaria infected about 219 million people in 2017, killing around 435,000 of them, the vast majority babies and children in the poorest parts of Africa.

Due to ongoing transmission, half the world's population is still at risk of contracting malaria.