Malaria is one of the world’s leading public health problems, estimated to cause over a million deaths per year. Mathematical modeling of malaria, such as that done on computer, can help public health experts predict the epidemiological impact and cost effectiveness of vaccines and other malaria control interventions.

Currently there are a number of malaria vaccines in clinical and pre-clinical development, targeting different stages in the life-cycle of Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite responsible for the most severe form of the disease.


The published predictions raise several issues for vaccine clinical development:

• the suitability of each vaccine type under different conditions,
  


• the minimal duration of protection required for a given vaccine to have a worthwhile impact,
  


• and the need for clinical development plans to assess transmission to the mosquito vector.

The team’s work was published in PLOS One, where results of their simulations can be found.


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