Malawi planning to introduce malaria vaccine

Malawi is among several countries in Africa planning to introduce a malaria vaccine as one way to prevent the disease that kills an African child every 30 seconds, officials said here Friday.

Deputy Minister of Health Juliana Guga said in Lilongwe during the commemoration of the first World Malaria Day on Friday that once introduced, the vaccine is expected to complement the current tools used to reduce the impact of malaria.

\”The vaccine, if introduced, could save lives of countless people in the country and across Africa,\” she said.

According to her, Malawi records an average of 350,000 malaria patients per month – which translates into more than four million malaria cases annually.

Guga added that the country is playing a critical role in global malaria vaccines development by hosting pediatric clinical trials of the most advanced vaccine candidate, being developed by the GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals.

She said the vaccine candidate is preparing to enter the third phase of trials in late 2008 or early 2009 at sites across Africa, and the results conducted from clinical trials in Malawi will be used to help governments across the continent to make informed decisions about the role that a licenced malaria vaccine could play within their national health systems.