Malaria can be wiped out in ten years with new jabs, mosquito nets & anti-malarial drugs, says Brit vaccine inventor
MALARIA can be wiped out in ten years, a British vaccine inventor insists.
Prof Adrian Hill’s laboratory has created one of only two successful jabs for the disease.
He said Africa — where 94 per cent of cases are found — could stamp out the parasitic infection with the new vaccines, mosquito nets and anti-malarial drugs.
Prof Hill, of Oxford University, told a US conference: “Eradication of malaria could be feasible in ten years. It’s really exciting.”
The R21 jab costs £3 per dose and factories in India could ramp up production to 200million per year.
Malaria kills more than 600,000 people annually.
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Routine injections began in Cameroon last month and health chiefs want to immunise 6.6million children in 20 African countries by next year.
But Prof Hill warned of the huge cost involved.
He said: “I think it really is feasible if the world wants to pay for a malaria elimination campaign.
“Today we are spending $4billion a year standing still — maybe you need $20billion for a campaign to eradicate malaria. It’s a bargain.”
