Ghana, Kenya and Malawi will pilot the world's first malaria vaccine from 2018, offering it for babies and children in high-risk areas as part of real-life trials, the World Health Organization said yesterday.

The injectable vaccine, called RTS,S or Mosquirix, was developed by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline to protect children from the most deadly form of malaria in Africa.

It proved only partially effective in clinical trials, and needs to be given in a four-dose schedule, but it's the first regulator-approved vaccine against the mosquito-borne disease.

The WHO, which is in the process of assessing whether to add the shot to core package of recommended measures for malaria prevention, has said it first wants to see the results of on-the-ground testing in a pilot program.

"Information gathered in the pilot will help us make decisions on the wider use of this vaccine," said Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO's African regional director. "Combined with existing malaria interventions, such a vaccine would have the potential to save tens of thousands of lives in Africa."

Malaria kills about 430,000 people a year, the vast majority of them babies and children in sub-Saharan Africa.

Global efforts in the last 15 years cut the death toll by 62 percent between 2000 and 2015.

REUTERS