Medical scientists have worked in vain for many years to develop a vaccine for Malaria, which kills hundreds of thousands of people every year. In 2015, 429,000 deaths from Malaria were recorded. And in Sub-Saharan Africa, children under the age of 5 accounted for 90% of all deaths due to malaria (WHO, 2007).

The malaria parasite has presented a significant challenges to researchers working to develop a vaccine due to different parasitic populations having different genetic make-up, which also evolve over time. This ability for the malaria parasite to evolve has foiled previous attempts to develop an effective vaccine.

However, researchers at Griffith University, lead by Professor Michael Good, believe they have made a significant step forward in the development of an effective immunization against Malaria. A trial of nine volunteers (including Professor Good) was found to produce an immune response in all participants after receiving a small dose of the PlasProtecT vaccine (source: The Sunday Mail).

“We’re trying to develop an effective vaccine which will protect individuals against all strains of malaria and the significance of that is that malaria parasites today still kill a very large number of people, mainly young children and pregnant women.”
Professor Good said.

Professor Good has said that Griffith University is now working to raise $500,000 to fund the next round of trials.