The World Health Organisation has announced plans to conduct real-life trials for the world’s first malaria vaccine on babies and children in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi.
The WHO said in a statement on Monday that the trials for the injectable vaccine called “Mosquirix” would be conducted in the high-risk areas of the countries in 2018.
The vaccines, according to the statement, was developed by British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to protect children from the most deadly form of malaria in Africa.
“Information gathered in the pilot will help us make decisions on the wider use of this vaccine,” Matshidiso Moeti, WHO African regional director, said in the statement
“Combined with existing malaria interventions, such a vaccine would have the potential to save tens of thousands of lives in Africa.”
Malaria, according to Reuters, kills around 430,000 people a year, the vast majority of them babies and young children in sub-Saharan Africa.
“The WHO pilot programme will assess whether the Mosquirix’s protective effect in children aged five to 17 months can be replicated in real-life.
It will also assess the feasibility of delivering the four doses needed, and explore the vaccine’s potential role in reducing the number of children killed by the disease,” the statement read in part.
The WHO said Malawi, Kenya and Ghana were chosen for the pilot due to several factors, including having high rates of malaria as well as good malaria programmes, wide use of bed-nets, and well-functioning immunisation programmes.
The UN organisation said each of the three countries will decide on the districts and regions to be included in the pilots.
It also said high malaria areas will get priority since these are where experts expect to see most benefit from the use of the vaccine.
“Mosquirix” was developed by GSK in partnership with the non-profit PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative and part-funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The WHO said in November it had secured full funding for the first phase of the drugs pilots.
