Dorcas Agyei, Hafizu Haruna and Rachael Asantewaa are ordinary children growing up in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana, but their lives may very soon significantly impact on the destinies of other children in the country and across Africa.

These children were among 270 children, all below two years, who were part of an experiment likely to change the public health landscape and relieve Africa of a major developmental problem.

The children participated in an experiment the Kintampo Health Research Centre in the Brong Ahafo Region is conducting on a candidate malaria vaccine.

The children have received the vaccine, technically known as RTS,S. This clinical trial was aimed primarily at testing the safety of the vaccine.

Barring any set back, scientists in Africa have targeted 2011, for the introduction of the RTS,S vaccine for use to  control malaria in Ghana and across Africa to control malaria. This would however, depend on further trials, including a phase three clinical trial, and licensing by the regulatory bodies.

But why would any mother or parent in Ghana offer the child to be used in these clinical trials?

A 27 year old trader in Kintampo, Dinah Konadu, whose child, Rachael is participating in the trials, said: "I was always taking my child to the hospital but since my child started receiving the vaccines I now have the peace to concentrate on my work."

Mr. Lot Gyamfi, her husband, said they agreed as a couple to offer their child for the project as their contribution to efforts to control malaria.

Parents in Kintampo told journalists from the Africa Media and Malaria Research Network(AMMREN), visiting the trial site, that they were not coerced or

given money to persuade them to allow their children to be used in the experiment as study children. They voluntarily handed over their children for the trial because of their battles with malaria. The parents have not regretted their decision as  they have seen tremendous improvement in the health status of their children. A satisfied Haruna Musah says he  is now the envy of his friends because of the good health his child, Hafisu, is enjoying.

Kintampo has a high malaria transmission rate. Some active malaria surveillance done in the area showed that on average, a child in the area could get about six to seven malaria attacks within a year.

As part of the experiment, not all the 270 children were on the vaccine. Some children received the experimental vaccine while some received rabies vaccine. Until the code is broken after data analysis, neither parents nor scientists would know which child is on the vaccine and how those on the vaccines fared or reacted.

Regular checks were conducted on all the children. Blood samples were analyzed and checks conducted on their liver and kidney to see the effects of the vaccine on these organs.

During the trial period, field workers who lived in the communities with the children visited them daily to ensure that the children were well. If a child was unwell, the fieldworker called a study ambulance and the child was sent to the hospital for treatment. Researchers say a version of RTS,S vaccine was tested on 100 adult volunteers in the United States and 85 adults in Kenya and found to be safe.

Dr Seth Owusu-Agyei, Director of the Kintampo Health Research Centre, said the RTS,S vaccine has already been administered on about 2,000 children aged one to four years in Mozambique.

He said results indicated that 18 months after the children were vaccinated, the risk of getting malaria was lowered by one third, and the risk of severe malaria reduced by about one half

Dr Sam Newton, a Local Safety Monitor, overseeing safety and ethical issues, said scientific principles were considered before the trials took off in Ghana.

Among some of the considerations that informed the initiation of the vaccine trial were; was to find out if the trial was scientifically sound? Was trial relevant to the needs of Ghanaians? Were subjects being protected? Were the participating children well taken care of? Will it cause any harm to participating children?

Dr Newton said the ethics committee, under the chairmanship of a reverend minister, reviewed everything including ethical issues related to the trials.

The plans and conduct of the trial in Ghana were reviewed and authorized by a number of regulatory authorities to ensure the safety of participating children.

The Kintampo Health Centre is one of eight sites in Africa which researched into the Phase Two stage of the vaccine. The experiment started in Ghana in September 2006 and ended in September 2007. The results are being analyzed. The Health Centre which incidentally is located near the spot said to be the geographic centre of Ghana, is strategically positioned to share its success with the whole of the country and the world at large.

The Phase Three stage would see about a thousand more Ghanaian children being recruited to test the efficacy of the vaccine.

The Centre has recruited about 80 children aged between six(6) weeks to ten (10)weeks to participate in a trial, which would test the safety of combining the routine Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) with the malaria RTS,S vaccine. This experiment would serve as a basis for introducing the malaria vaccine into the EPI  programme, where children are protected against major childhood killer diseases such as polio, whooping cough and tuberculosis.

Malaria is the single biggest killer of children under five. The resolve of African leaders to initiate various actions, including the strengthening of health systems to deal with malaria, remains a dream as children continue to die of the disease

 African Heads of State are nowhere near cutting down malaria deaths by half by 2010 a dream they had settled on in 2000 at Abuja, Nigeria. It appears Africa's children and scientists participating in the vaccine trials may soon prove to be the true stars of Africa by providing the Continent with an answer to malaria.