Geography in the News: New malaria vaccine is world-changing

A malaria vaccine with "world-changing" potential has been developed by scientists at the University of Oxford.

Malaria has been one of the biggest killers in LICs for hundreds of years. Around 229 million cases occur annually, with 94% of these in Africa, and results in 409,000 deaths each year (mostly babies and infants). This is despite widespread progress with mosquito nets, insecticides and drug treatments.

The team at the University of Oxford who have been working on the vaccine, say it offers up to 80% protection against malaria, it is cheap and there is a deal in place to manufacture 100 million doses a year, starting from next year.

It has taken more than 100 years to develop an effective vaccination for malaria - mosquitoes are a moving target so they are hard to immunise against!

However trials for this ground breaking vaccine shows that three initial doses, followed by a booster a year later, gives up to 80% protection - better results than any previous trials have shown. The charity Malaria No More said recent progress meant children dying from malaria could end "in our lifetimes".

Read more about this world-changing vaccine here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/hea...