The Chinese laboratory

A Chinese-owned firm has built a modern laboratory to study malaria parasites in the southeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

This came after The World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed the first malaria vaccine on Wednesday, launching a tool that might save the lives of tens of thousands of African children each year.

According to the WHO, the DRC has the second-highest number of malaria cases and deaths globally after Nigeria. Reports state that more than 13,000 people have died of malaria in 2019, most of whom were children under the age of 5. 

"Before the lab was built, we were using insecticides to kill mosquitoes, but malaria cases still remained high," said Faustin Mumba Ngoy, a vector control assistant from the DRC government. The mosquitoes had become resistant to the insecticide, which required finding other interventions to reduce malaria deaths in the region and the country.

DRC researchers say the lab has helped them find better ways of reducing the high incidence of malaria. The WHO boosted the DCR government’s efforts in this regard, by recommending the widespread use of a vaccine that has proved effective in preventing malaria deaths among children.

The scientific breakthroughs have raised hopes of preventing malaria deaths in the DRC.

What is Malaria?

Malaria is a leading cause of death in Central Africa. The disease is caused by parasites transmitted to people through mosquito bites.

It kills about 500,000 people per year, virtually all of whom are in Sub-Saharan Africa, including 260,000 children under the age of five.

In 2019, African leaders met in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa and committed to providing more funds to eliminate malaria by 2030. But that goal is still far from reach for the DRC and other sub-Saharan African countries.