Each year, malaria, a mosquito-borne infectious disease, kills nearly 800,000 people. Many of them the youngest children in Africa.
But the quest for the world's first malaria vaccine appears to have taken a big step.
Reports say scientists are on the cusp of having the world's first vaccine against malaria with vaccination trials in seven countries showing great promise.
According to reports from Independent Television News, 16,000 children between six weeks and 17 months of age were vaccinated against malaria with a jab originally tested on American soldiers. It doesn't work so well for adults, but for young children, the results are full of hope.
Overall, it reduced the risk of getting malaria by 55 percent for children between five and 17 months old.
The trial is still continuing, but if the final analysis fulfills their hopes, there could be a vaccine by 2015.
Quotes
"In the last two years, 16,000 children between six weeks and 17 months of age were vaccinated against malaria with a jab originally tested on American soldiers. It doesn't work so well for adults, but for young children, the results are full of hope." - Lawrence McGinty of Independent Television News.
Warm Up Questions
1. What is a disease?
2. What is a vaccine?
3. What is malaria?
Discussion Questions
1. Why is malaria prevalent in places like Africa?
2. Why is malaria not prevalent in the United States?
3. Do you think Americans should care more about what happens in Africa? Why or why not?
4. How do Americans get information about Africa? How does that affect our understanding of Africa?
Additional Resources
Vaccine Could Become 'Another Very Powerful Weapon' to Fight Malaria
Experimental Malaria Vaccines Attack the Parasite in New Ways
Overtreating Malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa
