The Wire

Australian researchers say a new vaccine for malaria is essential as the disease’s distribution has been shifting and changing more frequently globally.

Malaria is still a major threat to over half of the global population. The disease kills more than 600,000 people every year, most of these being children under five.

Recent vaccines have been proven to be not fully effective with waning immunity. Now researchers are seeking to understand the life cycle of the Plasmodium parasite and identify weak points that a new vaccine could target.