A malaria vaccine, developed by the University of Oxford, has proved to be 77% effective in early trials; being seen as a potential major breakthrough in the fight against the disease.

Malaria kills over 400,000 people every year, the majority of which are children in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Despite the fact that numerous vaccines have been trialled in the past, none has met the stipulated targets - making this recent development very significant.

The researchers from Oxford mentioned that the vaccine could have a major public health impact.

The vaccine, when trialled in a sample size of 450 children in Burkina Faso, was found to be safe, and showed "high-level efficacy" within over 12 months of follow-up.

On the basis of these results, larger trials will now be carried out in nearly 5000 children between the ages of five months and three years, across four African states.