“Over millennia, its victims have included Neolithic dwellers, early Chinese and Greeks, princes, and paupers.” Few ailments have reigned over mankind for centuries like malaria. Responsible for over half a million deaths each year, with 2/3rds of those being children under the age of five, the disease has claimed between 150 million and 300 million lives in the last century alone. Almost 5% of deaths in the 20th century have been attributed to malaria, according to Carter and Mendis, 2002. It is also spread throughout the globe, with 40% of the world's population living in areas where malaria is still a threat. However, about 95% of cases and deaths in 2021 belonged to sub-Saharan Africa. Given the significant threat to human lives that malaria presents, the prospect of a vaccine that could eradicate the disease from our populations is extremely attractive. Not only from a humanitarian viewpoint, but a medical one too, as it would herald a new age of health and medicine. However,
Blog on the History of Medicine and Medical Science from the Ancient Times to Modern