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Contributions from
the Column
Facts and trends
Preventing AIDS through
social marketing of contraceptives
Guidelines for intervention
German Development Ministry budget for 2005
German Development Ministry concept on fighting AIDS
Malaria vaccine testing successful
Small loans, big impacts
400 billion dollars annually in bribes
“Leave us in peace!”
Separating civilian aid and the military
12/2004
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Malaria vaccine testing successful
According to a report in the medical journal Lancet (issue 9443 dated 16th October), an international research group has made considerable progress in the search for a vaccine against malaria. In Mozambique, a group of doctors headed by Pedro Alonso of the University of Barcelona has tested a substance produced by GlaxoSmithKline on 2022 children aged from one to four years. Overall, the vaccine lowered the risk of infection by 58 percent, among children under two the ratio was even 77 percent. “These are clearly the best results we have ever seen with a potential malaria vaccine,” Alonso said. The medication is both safe and effective. The researchers hope that clinical testing can be completed by 2010, so that the vaccine can then be introduced to the market. According to Alonso, it is highly unlikely that a vaccine will ever be found which offers 100 percent protection, but nonetheless “we believe a malaria vaccine, even of moderate efficacy, could make a huge impact.” GlaxoSmithKline and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded the research on the vaccine. (ell)
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