The World Health Organisation has endorsed the first ever vaccine to combat malaria, a disease responsible for more than 500,000 deaths every year
The disease continues to be deadly in many countries and mainly kills babies and infants, predominately across Africa.
The vaccine, made by British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, encourages a child’s immune system to thwart the deadliest of the five malaria pathogens.
The approval comes after a successful pilot programme in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi that reached more than 800,000 children since 2019.
World Health Organisation’s director general says the rollout is “historic” and that he’s “longed for the day that we could have an effective vaccine against this ancient and terrible disease”.
A study last year found that if the vaccine were rolled out in countries with the highest incidence of malaria, it could prevent 5.4 million cases and 23,000 deaths in children younger than five each year.
The vaccine is not just a first for malaria – it is the first to be developed for any parasitic disease.
