17th February 2000

Malaria vaccine initiative

grant: money given to an organisation for a purpose such as research

used : (which was) used

will ... be helping: the future continuous tense shows that this will happen over a period of time

vaccine: a vaccine contains a harmless form of the germs that cause a disease to prevent people getting the actual disease

pinned on: people hope that a vaccine will be successful

strains : varieties of malaria

parasite: a small organism, animal or plant that lives inside a larger one and gets its food from it

resistance: it is no longer harmed by traditional insecticides used to kill it

A vaccine would offer cheap and lasting protection. There are three or four promising vaccines in trial at the moment, and money at this stage can speed things up. But history shows that money alone is unlikely to beat malaria. Many groups have been working for years on a vaccine, but the parasite that causes the disease goes through a complex life cycle and it's expert at escaping attack from the human immune system. Unfortunately any amount of money won't change that.

cheap and lasting protection: it would stop people from getting the disease for a long time and would not cost a lot

promising: it seems likely they will succeed

complex life cycle: its life has different stages, and is hard to understand

human immune system: the system in our bodies which prevents us from catching diseases