Test of new malaria vaccine in Africa

Testing of the most advanced vaccine in the world today, preventing malaria, symbolized RTS, S, is taking place in 7 African countries.

Mosquitoes are malaria transmission agents.

This is the information published by the researchers on November 3 at the 5th meeting of the Multilateral Initiative on the Prevention of Malaria in Africa in the capital of Kenya.

Speaking at the conference (November 1 - 6), representatives of the Burkina Faso National Center for Malaria Research and Prevention, Mr. Sirima Sodiomon, said that the researchers are now in the third stage of the tests. The most important experiment and with a large number of children participated (16,000 children, from 6 weeks to 17 months of age) in Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.

According to Sirima, the effectiveness of the RTS vaccine, S is estimated to be about 30-50%. However, after continuing research, scientists can publish second-generation vaccines that are effective up to 80-90% in the next 5-6 years.

Vaccine RTS, S produced to serve "Black Continent" because it is at high risk of malaria outbreak - the world's highest fatal disease, Africa alone has about 900,000 people die of malaria each year (most of these are children under 5 years old).

Health experts are optimistic that the RTS, S vaccine, with its high safety and effectiveness, could be used in African countries in 2012./.