First malaria treatment for babies approved

首批婴儿疟疾治疗方案获得批准

Global News Podcast

2025-07-08

26 分钟
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A new malaria treatment designed for babies is expected to be rolled out in Africa within weeks. Also: Fresh warnings of the dangers linked to aid distribution sites in Gaza, and a look at the rise of e-sports.
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  • This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service.

  • I'm Valerie Sanderson and at $1,300 GMT on Tuesday the 8th of July, these are our main stories.

  • The first ever malaria treatment for babies and under-fives has been approved,

  • with a rollout in African countries in weeks.

  • The Red Cross says Gaza's overwhelmed health system has seen a huge rise in injuries and deaths linked to controversial aid distribution sites backed by Israel.

  • At least 50 people have been killed in an attack by gunmen in central Nigeria.

  • Also in this podcast...

  • The internet piles in after a South Korean actress becomes pregnant against her ex-husband's wishes using an embryo created with him during the marriage.

  • We don't often begin this podcast with good news but today is an exception

  • because the first malaria treatment that can be given to babies and to very young children has been approved and could be rolled out in African countries within weeks.

  • Until now the only option for under fives was to give them versions formulated for older children which came with the risk of overdosing and even so an estimated 450,000 babies and toddlers die in Africa every year from malaria related illnesses.

  • Dr Caroline Bolton, Global Malaria Programme Head at Novartis,

  • gave us a sense of the scale of the problem.

  • It is the first ever malaria treatment for newborns and young infants less than five kilograms who have malaria.

  • There are potentially 30 million births in across African areas where malaria is prevalent.

  • The best evidence we have is from West Africa,

  • which suggests that we have a prevalence somewhere between 3% and 18% of the babies that are born there have malaria.

  • Dr Caroline Bolton, our Africa Health Correspondent, Makiochi Okofar,

  • is in Lagos in Nigeria and told me more about this drug.

  • It's the first ever malaria treatment specifically designed for newborns and infants weighing about less than Now,