Malaria vaccine

Manuel Elkin Patarroyo, a Colombian scientist who developed a malaria vaccine at Bogota's National Institute of Immunology, gave the World Health Organisation the legal rights to the vaccine, AP reports from Geneva. Under the deal, the WHO will take responsibility for developing it and conducting further trials.

Dr Patarroyo said that results from field trials on 41,000 volunteers in Latin America showed that 40 per cent of people vaccinated were protected against malaria. Among young children the proportion was as high as 77 per cent.