Life
Malaria vaccine getting closer
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Malaria is one of Africa’s most debilitating diseases. Every 45-50 seconds, a child dies of malaria and many more are left with severe brain damage.
It is one of the greatest contributing factors rapping African communities in poverty, in a continent that spends 40 percent of its health budget trying to tackle the disease.
We are at a landmark moment in the world’s fight against malaria. Results from a major trial of 15,460 African children released this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, show the RTS,S vaccine created by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has reduced the risk of malaria by 55 percent in children aged between 5-17 months.