Malaria kills 180,000 more people annually than previously thought, says WHO

UN agency says world must support urgent rollout of new vaccine as it reveals new figures for malaria deaths

The World Health Organization has called for a massive, urgent" effort to get the new malaria vaccine into the arms of African children, as it warned that about 180,000 more people were dying annually from the disease than had previously been thought.

Dr Pedro Alonso, director of the WHO's global malaria programme, said the RTS,S vaccine, recommended for widespread rollout in October, represented a historic opportunity to save tens of thousands of lives, mostly those of under-fives in sub-Saharan Africa.