The difficult task of developing a vaccine for malaria appears to be making progress. The RTS,S vaccine, developed by GlaxoSmithKline, has reduced malaria cases by about half in field trials, which is a significant breakthrough, even if not perfect.
It's frustrating, how much of a role fashion and politics play in determining where medical research is directed. Ask the man on the street to name the disease that's devastating Africa, and nearly everyone will answer, "AIDS." Granted, it's huge problem. But I'd be willing to bet that lack of clean water, good nutrition, and basic health education and services is the bigger issue. When it comes to research and funding efforts, since AIDS, being sex- and blood-borne, is nearly 100% preventable, while mosquito-transmitted malaria is nearly unavoidable if one lives in Sub-Saharan Africa, aren't our priorities a little skewed?
This is where I'd usually complain about all the effort and publicity that's gone into Viagra, a drug which at best enhances the quaility of life for a few, while over a million people die each year from malaria—but I'm pretty sure it's income from drugs like Viagra that make it possible for pharmaceutical companies to work on the more important issues.
