Malawi on Tuesday rolled out the world’s first licensed malaria vaccine in a landmark campaign against a disease that each year kills hundreds of thousands of people, especially African children. Kayange said that the vaccine had the capacity to prevent one million of the six million malaria cases recorded annually in Malawi, helping to prevent 4,000 deaths. Mosquirix has been developed by British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline in partnership with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative. GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines’ chief medical officer, Thomas Breuer said “delivering the world’s first malaria vaccine will help reduce the burden of one of the most pressing health challenges globally”. Despite concerns over the recent rise in malaria cases, the numbers dying from the disease has fallen nearly two-thirds since the turn of the century.

Source: Egypt Independent April 24, 2019 07:52 UTC