African scientists' historic malaria breakthrough celebrated by peers

The World Health Organization's decision to recommend the widespread use of a long-awaited vaccine against malaria is an endorsement of the African scientists involved in developing it, a top official in the global health body told CNN on Thursday.

Dr. Akpaka Kalu, WHO Regional Advisor for Tropical and Vector-borne Disease, said positive results from ongoing pilot programs of malaria vaccinations in three African countries -- Ghana, Malawi and Kenya -- had led the organization to recommend widespread use of RTS,S/AS0 or Mosquirix among children in sub-Saharan Africa.

"The datasets that were generated in these studies and field trials were by African scientists," Kalu said.