Malaria: WHO recommends massive deployment in children of the first vaccine against this disease inf – Franceinfo

This vaccine, manufactured by the British laboratory GlaxoSmithKline, aims to fight againsthe disease that kills around half a million people each year, almost all of them in sub-Saharan Africa, including 260,000 children under the age of five.

Article written by

Posted

Update

Reading time : 1 min.

A major advance. The World Health Organization approved, Wednesday, October 6, the very first vaccine to prevent malaria. This vaccine could save the lives of tens of thousands of children around the world every year.

“This is a historic moment. The long-awaited malaria vaccine for children is a breakthrough for science, child health and the fight against malaria.”WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a press release.

Malaria, which is spread through mosquito bites, is one of the oldest known and deadliest infectious diseases. It kills around half a million people each year, almost all of them in sub-Saharan Africa, including 260,000 children under the age of five.

The new vaccine, made by GlaxoSmithKline, stimulates a child’s immune system to thwart Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest of the five malaria pathogens and the most common in Africa. The vaccine is not only a first for malaria: it is the first developed for a parasitic disease.

1 thought on “Malaria: WHO recommends massive deployment in children of the first vaccine against this disease inf – Franceinfo”

Comments are closed.