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Malaria is one of the world’s oldest and deadliest diseases. For generations it has devastated families, communities, and countries. Thanks to international efforts to develop and scale up prevention tools and treatments, significant gains have been made over the past few decades in fighting this dangerous disease. But challenges, such as growing drug and insecticide resistance, continue to hamper control efforts—underscoring the need for continued research and development of new tools. In recognition of #WorldMalariaDay, test your knowledge of this deadly foe and the innovations being advanced to #EndMalaria: Loading... (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) { var ql = document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if (ql) { if (ql.length) { for (var k = 0; k

Interested in more global health innovation news? Every week GHTC scours media reports worldwide to deliver essential global health R&D news and content to your inbox. Sign up now to receive our weekly R&D News Roundup email. The global vaccine initiative COVAX has delivered 38.4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to 102 countries and economies, six weeks after it began its rollout around the world, according to a World Health Organization statement released Thursday. Among the countries reached so far, 61 received doses through the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, a donor-financed mechanism to ensure vaccine access for low- and middle-income countries. Amid this progress, reduced supply has caused delays in delivery, and the Serum Institute of India–produced AstraZeneca vaccine is no longer being shipped out of India amid COVID-19 surges in the country. COVAX plans to reach all participating countries within the first half of 2021 and intends to deliver at least 2 billion doses by the end of the year.The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization last week to a COVID-19 antibody test that can be taken at home and mailed to a lab for results. The COVID-19 Self-Collected Antibody Test System, developed by Symbiotica, Inc., is the first antibody test to receive FDA authorization for use at home, adding to the more than 75 antibody tests approved for use at point-of-care settings. The test can be used by individuals ages 5 and over and requires a fingerstick blood sample completed at home and sent to a Symbiotica lab to process for evidence of COVID-19 antibodies, the presence of which would indicate past infection.The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) has begun a phase 1 clinical trial evaluating a new COVID-19 vaccine candidate following positive preclinical results against SARS-CoV-2, its variants, and SARS-CoV-1. The candidate, a nanoparticle vaccine based on a ferritin platform, has a multi-faced sphere design, which allows it a flexible approach to combating variants and coronaviruses and an ordered introduction of the coronavirus spike protein to the immune system. The phase 1 study will enroll 72 adult volunteers between the ages of 18 and 55, divided into vaccine and placebo groups, and will be conducted at the WRAIR Clinical Trials Center.