Study suggests new approach to fighting malaria reduces severe illness and deaths in kids

Vials of the world's first malaria vaccine.
(Image credit: Brian Ongoro/AFP via Getty Images)

Researchers conducting a malaria trial in Burkina Faso and Mali found that when children received both seasonal vaccinations and antimalarial drugs, rather than just one intervention, there was a 70 percent drop in hospitalizations and deaths related to the disease, The Guardian reports.

Their study was published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine. Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease, and in 2019, 94 percent of cases and deaths were reported in Africa. The most vulnerable group is children 5 and under — in 2019, they accounted for 67 percent of malaria deaths worldwide, the World Health Organization said.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.