Sharjah24 – AFP: More than 100,000 children in malaria-endemic western Kenya have received the new vaccine against the disease, which kills 260,000 children under five every year in sub-Saharan Africa.

A pilot programme has been rolling out the groundbreaking drug, which was 30 years in the making -- in Kenya, Ghana and Malawi since 2019.

It was approved for broad use for children in sub-Saharan Africa and other at-risk regions by the World Health Organization (WHO) in October last year.

Lucy Akinyi's three children were infected with malaria so often she would be at their local health clinic in western Kenya every other week getting them treated.

When offered the chance to protect her children with the world's first vaccine against the deadly parasitic disease, Akinyi jumped at the chance.