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The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended widespread use of the malaria vaccine for children in areas with moderate to high transmission, including sub-Saharan Africa, the .

"This is a historic moment. The long-awaited malaria vaccine for children is a breakthrough for science, child health and malaria control," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, in a statement.

He went on to say that that preventing malaria transmission, with help from the vaccine, "could save tens of thousands of young lives each year."

The vaccine, RTS,S/AS01, in conjunction with other malaria prevention tools, is recommended to prevent P. falciparum malaria among children ages 5 months and up in areas with "moderate to high transmission." A four-dose series is recommended.

RTS,S/AS01 was developed by GlaxoSmithKline through a partnership with and a network of African research centers, and is the result of more than 30 years of research and development, WHO noted.

The vaccine was previously used in a pilot program in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi, beginning in 2019, which reached more than 800,000 children, WHO said. The program produced strong results, with the organization noting that over two-thirds of children who were not sleeping under insecticide-treated bed nets benefited from the vaccine. And using either bed nets or the vaccine resulted in over 90% of children benefiting from malaria prevention.

Moreover, WHO said there was a reduction in severe malaria by 30%, even in areas with access to diagnosis and treatment.

The vaccine has a "favorable safety profile," and did not reduce use of other malaria prevention tools, uptake of childhood vaccinations or other health-seeking behavior.

"Today's recommendation offers a glimmer of hope for the continent which shoulders the heaviest burden of the disease, and we expect many more African children to be protected from malaria and grow into healthy adults," said Matshidiso Moeti, MD, WHO Regional Director for Africa, in a statement.

The organization said the next steps will be "funding decisions from the global health community for broader roll-out," and whether individual countries will adopt the vaccine as part of their national strategies to control malaria.

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