Progress towards the development of malaria vaccines.

The misery and suffering caused worldwide by infection with the malaria parasite, especially Plasmodium falciparum, has been well documented. Although no licensed vaccine against malaria currently exists, progress has accelerated in recent years towards the goal of developing one. Although the complexity of the malaria parasite has made the malaria vaccine development process tenuous, advances in science and in the vaccine development process as well as increases in funding are encouraging. These advances, coupled with the results of the recent clinical trial of the vaccine candidate RTS,S, have added new vigor to the idea that a malaria vaccine is not only possible but probable.