Another, very different approach - which at first sight looks off the wall - is to try to vaccinate not humans but mosquitoes. Such a transmission-blocking vaccine would still be injected into people but with the aim of preventing the mosquitoes that bite them from subsequently spreading the malaria parasite. Researchers at John Hopkins University believe they have found a way of doing this, and the good news is it could protect against both the type of malaria common in Africa, and the variant that is widespread in Asia. GSK’s vaccine only works against the African form.

These are promising leads for the future, but some experts fear the race for smart technology may risk sidelining the effective tools that already exist. “We worry a lot about the science of this, but the reality is that every death from malaria today could be prevented, either by avoiding the malaria case in the first place or treatment at an early stage, using existing tools all costing less than a pint of beer,” says Chris Whitty, who works at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, advises the British government on malaria, and was one of those at Cohen’s appearance in parliament. “The fact is our biggest problem with malaria at the moment is that we are not getting the technologies we know work and are already there to the people who need them.”

COST EFFECTIVE?

The snowy streets of Swiss ski resort Davos are a long way from the palm trees and mangrove-fringed creeks of Kilifi. But if a malaria vaccine does get into widespread use across Africa, it will in large part be thanks to a novel project to fund vaccines for poor countries that was launched 11 years ago at the World Economic Forum, the annual talkfest of the rich and powerful.

Back in January 2000, the inauguration of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) left many in Davos scratching their heads. The venture sounded worthy, but hardly set the world alight. Media covering Davos were more excited by the Internet stock bubble, which would soon burst. A few months later, billionaire Bill Gates, who was just embarking on his transformation from software tycoon to philanthropist and who had pledged an initial $750 million for GAVI, complained that their presentation in Davos was “one of the least inspirational, least informative panels I’ve seen”.

A decade on, though, the alliance can claim remarkable success. It has paid for the immunization of 288 million children against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type b (known as Hib), saving more than 5 million lives in the process.

If it wants to beat malaria, the GAVI Alliance will have to up its game even further. It is already $3.7 billion short on donor money to fund its work through 2015, and that’s before any new malaria vaccine. Nina Schwalbe, its managing director for policy and performance, says the alliance wants to be ready for the malaria vaccine and is already working on the sums. “We are very enthusiastic about working on this and we are beginning to factor it into our financial projections,” she says. “But this vaccine cannot come at any price. In order to be taken on it has to be cost effective.”

What that means is clearly defined by the World Bank: interventions are considered cost-effective if they save a year of healthy life for less than a country’s average gross domestic product per head. In simple cash terms that means the difference between a vaccine priced at $5 and $15 can be hugely significant, especially at the scale the GAVI Alliance works on: it aims to immunize more than 40 million children a year. “For any vaccine that’s introduced, we’re looking for less than $10 per course - and ideally significantly less,” Schwalbe told Reuters.

Christian Loucq, director of PATH MVI, says that even with a new vaccine in 2015, wiping out malaria is going to be extremely difficult to achieve, and very pricey.