The world's first malaria vaccine for at risk kids gets WHO nod of approval

The World Health Organization recommends groundbreaking malaria vaccine for at-risk children in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The World Health Organization (WHO) backs the world's first vaccine to fight against the deadly mosquito-borne disease, malaria, which annually kills more than 260,000 kids in Sub-Saharan Africa. The recommendation is for an RTS, S, or the Mosquirix vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline Plc. and its partners for use in children in Sub-Saharan Africa and other regions with moderate to high malaria transmission. The recommendation comes after positive results from an ongoing pilot program in Sub-Saharan countries of Kenya, Ghana, and Malawi that has reached more than 800,000 children since 2019.

In a statement, the Director-General of The World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that this was a historic moment in the fight against malaria. The long-awaited malaria vaccine for children was a breakthrough for science, child health, and malaria control. He also added that using the malaria vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline on top of existing tools to prevent malaria could save hundreds of thousands of young lives each year.

Malaria is killing more people in Africa more COVID-19. A World Health Organization estimate states nearly 386,000 Africans died because of malaria in 2019 compared to almost 212,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths on the entire continent in the past 18 months. According to the WHO, 94% of malaria cases and deaths occur on the continent of Africa. Malaria is caused by parasites transmitted to people by the bites of disease-ridden mosquitoes.