MAPUTO, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - The third and final phase of a promising malarial vaccine, RTS,S/AS02D, will start in mid-2008, Mozambican research centre CISM announced on Friday.

'The results of the second phase of vaccine trials, which have just come to an end, showed its capacity to reduce new infections in children by 65 percent,' said CISM researcher Pedro Aide.

'In addition, we hope that the tests run from 2008 to 2011 confirm the efficacy of the vaccine and prove the non-toxicity of the product.'

PARIS, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - The most ambitious attempt to engineer a vaccine against malaria has cleared another key hurdle, with tests among African babies showing the prototype to be safe and highly protective, a study released on Wednesday said.

Known by its lab name of RTS,S the prototype is raising high hopes of the first vaccine shield against a disease that claims more than a million lives a year -- 800,000 of them African children aged under five -- and sickens hundreds of millions more.

SEATTLE, Washington, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - Billionaire philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates urged the international community Wednesday to seize on a 'historic opportunity' to eradicate malaria around the world.

The founders of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said an influx of new research, funds and energy in the public and private sectors to combat malaria has made them optimistic that their ambitious, long-term goal can be met.

PARIS, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - African countries are making vital headway in preventing child malaria, thanks to wider distribution of insecticide-treated bednets and procurement of new drugs, a UN-backed report on Wednesday said.

The toll from malaria remains unchanged, with around 800,000 deaths occurring among African children aged under five each year, but these efforts are a springboard for forcing the disease into retreat, it said.

PARIS, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - Using insecticide-treated bednets can nearly halve deaths from malaria among children aged under five, according to a study in Kenya published in Saturday's Lancet.

Kenya scaled up distribution of the nets in 2004, when only seven percent of the population had access to this anti-mosquito screen. Last year, the figure was 67 percent.

Greg Fegan of the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya, led a team to investigate the success of the initiative.

NAIROBI, Aug 16, 2007 (AFP) - Kenya on Thursday said it has almost halved malaria deaths among small children by using insecticidal nets, spurring calls for free nets for all to tackle Africa's biggest killer.

Health Minister Charity Ngilu said the distribution of 13.4 million nets over the past five years to children and pregnant women had helped curtail infections, a key success against a disease threatening 40 percent of the world's population.

NAIROBI, Aug 16, 2007 (AFP) - Kenya on Thursday announced it almost halved malaria deaths among small children by using insecticidal nets (INTs), spurring the World Health Organisation to advocate free nets for all as it tackles Africa's deadliest disease.

Health Minister Charity Ngilu said distribution of 13.4 million INTs over the past five years among children and pregnant women had helped curtail infections, a key success against a disease threatening 40 percent of the world's population.

NAIROBI, Aug 16, 2007 (AFP) - Kenya has cut malaria deaths among children under five by 44 percent on 2002 levels thanks largely to the increased use of insecticide treated nets (INTs), the government said Thursday.

The health ministry said the distribution of 13.4 million INTs over the past five years among children and pregnant women had helped curtail infections, a key success against a disease threatening 40 percent of the world's population.

DAR ES SALAAM, July 22, 2007 (AFP) - Former US president Bill Clinton launched a programme Sunday aimed at making subsidised malaria drugs available in Tanzania, in a pilot scheme that could spread to the rest of Africa.

Clinton said manufacturers of artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) drugs will receive subsidy which will enable patients to buy the drugs 90 percent cheaper than the current market price.