First proof of RTS,S vaccine efficacy in children (Manhiça)
Primera prueba de eficacia de la vacuna RTS,S en niños (Manhiça)
- Date
- 2004 · confidence high
- Place
- Manhiça, Maputo, Mozambique
- Credited to
- Pedro Alonso and the Manhiça Health Research Centre (CISM)
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
A randomised trial in Mozambican children aged 1 to 4 showing that the RTS,S vaccine cut clinical malaria episodes by 30% and severe ones by 58%. It showed for the first time that a malaria vaccine could protect African children.
Published in The Lancet (2004). The vaccine was developed from 1987 at GlaxoSmithKline (Belgium) and the US Army; Manhiça provided the proof of efficacy in children, not the invention.
What it led to
- phase 3 trial in seven African countries (2009-2014)
- WHO recommendation of RTS,S in 2021 for African children
- the next-generation R21/Matrix-M vaccine