According to the
Mayo Clinic, some 290 million people are infected with malaria annually and at least 400,000 people die of the disease each year — predominantly young children, the elderly and the infirm — making it the world’s most pervasive parasitic disease. Symptoms involve ongoing cyclical “attacks'' — chills and shivering followed by fevers followed by chills followed by fevers.
“Safe, effective, affordable vaccines could play a critical role in defeating malaria,” Dr Robert Newman, Director of WHO’s
Global Malaria Program said in 2013. ”Despite all the recent progress countries have made, and despite important innovations in diagnostics, drugs and vector control, the global burden of malaria remains unacceptably high.”