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By Kate Kelland
LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Funding for phase one of pilotdeployments of the world's first malaria vaccine in sub-SaharanAfrica has been secured and immunisation campaigns will begin in2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
The vaccine, known as RTS,S or Mosquirix and developed byBritish drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, is only partiallyeffective and needs to be given in a four-dose schedule, but isthe first approved shot against the mosquito-borne disease.
The WHO said last year that while RTS,S was promising, itshould be deployed only on a pilot basis before any wide-scaleuse, given its limited efficacy.
Pedro Alonso, director of the WHO's Global MalariaProgramme, said on Thursday that securing funding and being ableto trial the vaccine in Africa pilots would be a milestone inthe fight against malaria.
"These pilot projects will provide the evidence we need fromreal-life settings to make informed decisions on whether todeploy the vaccine on a wide scale," he said.
The go-ahead comes after the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,Tuberculosis and Malaria on Thursday approved $15 million forthe malaria vaccine pilots, assuring full funding for the firstphase of the programme.
Earlier this year, the GAVI Vaccine Alliance and UNITAIDannounced commitments of up to $27.5 million and $9.6 millionrespectively for the first four years of the programme.
Malaria infects around 200 million people a year worldwideand killed an estimated 440,000 in 2015. The vast majority ofmalaria deaths are among babies in sub-Saharan Africa.
RTS,S was developed by GSK in partnership with thenon-profit PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative and part-funded bythe Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Mark Potter)
