Malaria, which despite being a preventable and treatable disease kills a huge number of children worldwide, may have an answer in the introduction of R21/Matrix-M, anew drug aimed at dealing with the health issue.
The new drug, which was developed jointly by the University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India, has been approved and recommended for use by the World Health Organization (WHO), reports said.
"The recommendation was based on pre-clinical and clinical trial data which showed good safety and high efficacy in four countries, at sites with both seasonal and perennial malaria transmission, making it the world's second-ever WHO recommended vaccine for preventing malaria in children", the Serum Institute of India said in an official statement.
According to the WHO, this is the second such drug to deal with the deadly disease, which kills a child almost every minute globally, after RTS,S/AS01, which was approved in 2021.
According to reports, more than 400,000 people die of the disease, which has been a cause of concern for a long time.
After the drug was approved, media reports quoted WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as saying: “As a malaria researcher, I used to dream of the day we would have a safe and effective vaccine against malaria. Now we have two”.
He sounded hopeful as the second vaccine would help deal with the disease more effectively.
It will be a “vital additional tool” to ensure a malaria-free world, he said.
Reports said that as many as 28 countries in Africa will introduce the vaccine as part of their national immunization programmes.