Following a recent finding that young children in Tanzania have developed resistance to the malaria parasite, Kenyan researchers have made similar discoveries. These findings may help scientists with a clue in developing a malaria vaccine by the end of 2015. This is in line with the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations.

Dr. Andrew Githeko, a chief researcher on malaria with the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), confirmed that there are several vaccine trials taking place in Kenya with regards to children. Most of the children are under five years of age. "Children's immune systems are easier to study compared to those of adults," Githeko said during an interview.

"The research that we are doing here in Kenya has many similarities with other researches in Africa. We found that the antibody trapped the malaria parasites in the red blood cells of children. This could give us a very good answer to the way forward in developing an effective malaria vaccine in the future," said Githeko.

He said climate change and the way the malaria-causing parasite plasmodium falciparum reacts is different depending on the region. In some places, the parasite may be weak or strong depending on the prevalent weather conditions.

Climate change also causes the parasite to change its behavior when inside the human bloodstream. This is because it's trying to find different ways to survive, so some vaccines fail along the way while others continue to give promising results.

Currently, the most promising vaccine candidate against malaria is RTS,S/AS01. Trials of this vaccine candidate are in phase three and have been conducted in seven African countries since 2009. The countries involved are Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi, Gabon, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Mozambique.

It has shown to be 30 percent effective, yet the World Health Organization (WHO) requirements are that a vaccine must reach at least 85 percent efficacy to qualify for approval.

The Glaxo Smithkline funded RTS, S/AS01 initiative involves the study of two age groups of children. The first group is between five-17 months old, who receive their first dose of the vaccine. The other age group is between six-12 months old. Both groups receive three doses of the vaccine at one month intervals.

Tanzania and Kenya lead the continent in terms of the number of vaccine trials, but the WHO requires that the most effective vaccine is the one that can possibly be made available to the public.

"I have to be sincere. I don't see a malaria vaccine being readily available by 2015, but I see a lot of hope in a lot of the research that we are currently conducting. However, I do see a new vaccine being available globally before 2018. The research on immunity has been going on during the last 10 years but it has failed to give an answer on the way forward," said Dr. Francis Ndungu, a research scientist with KEMRI, whose organization is partnering with Welcome Trust of the United Kingdom in Kenyan malaria prone areas.

Ndungu said he is involved in a study similar to the one that was done in Tanzania by scientists and wants to understand the puzzle why children are developing immunity to malaria in prone areas. "That is a puzzle I want to disentangle."

"In the past, malaria prone countries in Asia and Africa have failed to narrow down on the specific reason why protective antibodies that are measured in young children appear to be short-lived," he said. He further stated that so far candidate malaria vaccines in children are barely in their first stages and early results of resistance are very promising.

"I do see new drugs and insecticides being readily available by next year as there is a lot of research on the initiative here in Kenya by leading universities and government institutions. We need preventive methods to deal with malaria rather than curative ones as the implications are serious," said Ndungu, who added he did not agree the Tanzanian finding may be a bona fide vaccine as it is only in the first phase.

Over 600,000 Africans currently die of malaria each year, representing 90 percent of global reported cases, according to the WHO 2012 figures. CA 

(Reporting from Kenya)