After three decades of research, the World Health Organisation (WHO) approved the inclusion of the RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S) vaccine to the current toolbox of interventions to fight malaria in sub-Saharan Africa and other regions with moderate to high P. falciparum malaria transmission.

This is the first-ever malaria vaccine that provides partial protection against the disease in children under five years old. Developed by GSK, the vaccine has been part of a large-scale pilot programme coordinated by WHO in the past couple of years in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi.