Funding for phase one of pilot deployments of the world's first malaria vaccine in sub-Saharan Africa has been secured and immunisation campaigns will begin in 2018, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday. Pedro Alonso, director of the WHO's Global Malaria Programme, said on Thursday that securing funding and being able to trial the vaccine in Africa pilots would be a milestone in the fight against malaria. The go-ahead comes after the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Thursday approved $15 million for the malaria vaccine pilots, assuring full funding for the first phase of the programme. Malaria infects around 200 million people a year worldwide and killed an estimated 440,000 in 2015. RTS,S was developed by GSK in partnership with the non-profit PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative and part-funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Source: Otago Daily Times November 17, 2016 19:24 UTC