About 1,500 doctors and scientists have opened six days of talks in Nairobi to discuss research in the fight against malaria, including work on an experimental vaccine.
The vaccine, called Mosquirix and made by British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, is the first anti-malaria shot to make it to final-stage clinical trials.
More than 5,500 children across Africa have been given the new vaccine, called Mosquirix, since the trials began earlier this year.
In all, about 16,000 children will take part in the study in seven countries: Kenya, Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique, Gabon and Burkina Faso.
The World Health Organization says the mosquito-borne disease causes nearly one million deaths a year, mostly among African children.
Health experts meeting in the Kenyan capital will also tackle the problems of malaria-carrying mosquitoes developing insecticide resistance and the malaria parasite's increasing drug resistance.
