The European Malaria Vaccine Development Association (EMVDA) is an Integrated Project funded by the European Commission’s Sixth Framework Programme and is coordinated by the European Vaccine Initiative (EVI). The project is running over a five year period and was initiated in December 2006 with an overall budget of €13,500,000.
EMVDA seeks to accelerate the development of a vaccine to reduce the global burden of malaria, which is one of the priority areas of the European Commission's policy on poverty reduction in Africa and other developing countries. The EMVDA project facilitates the combination of resources of leading European research laboratories, bringing an innovative vaccine development infrastructure to Europe, as well as new facilities for the development and testing of candidate vaccines. EMVDA is complementing and supporting African efforts in malaria vaccine development through research partnerships and training for African scientists as an integral part of the malaria vaccine research and development process.
Although Europe has a long standing history and considerable expertise in malaria research, the European research and industrial infrastructure is presently fragmented. As a consequence, Europe is under exploiting its fundamental malaria scientific research capacity. EMVDA is addressing this fragmentation though a consortium of partners dedicated to the advancement of preclinical vaccine candidates through GMP production and early stage clinical trials.
Developing a protective malaria vaccine is feasible
Malaria is one of the world's biggest public health problems with a child under five years old dying every 30 seconds. A protective malaria vaccine that prevents or reduces clinical malaria and associated mortality will have a major impact on global human health and socioeconomic development.
There is considerable optimism that a malaria vaccine can be developed. This is based on the fact that immunity following natural infection eventually prevents mortality and can also protect against clinical disease.