**Acknowledgements**

Vaccines are unquestionably the most cost-effective way for malaria control. The new generation of vaccine delivery systems is increasingly moving towards coadministration of certain immunostimulants and the use of more than one antigen in the same system. In any event, the best vaccine should be effective, safe, low

WHO has announced an ambitious goal of global malaria elimination by 2030. Malaria elimination is possible but will require adaptive and well-managed programs and the implementation of evidence-based surveillance strategies and strong

Over the past 20 years, significant progress has been made in the fight against malaria worldwide, with impressive reductions in transmission in many endemic regions. However, the successful outcome of the global malaria eradication research program will depend on the development of new and more effective tools, including rapid diagnostic tests, drugs, vaccines, insecticides, and awareness raising. Nowadays, genetic and genomic knowledge of malaria parasites, vectors (mosquitoes), and human hosts are available. These bits of knowledge could and should be used for the development of the latest generation tools that are more efficient and secure. The situation is all the more urgent and worrying as there is the emergence of a resistance of *Plasmodium falciparum* to the first-line drug, namely artemisinin. In any event, the development of an effective, safe and operational malaria vaccine remains the ultimate objective that we must achieve. In this perspective, we must watch and take into account the genetic variation of the parasite population,

A big significant milestone in scientific advancements of the last twenty years was already the elucidation of the genomes, transcriptomes, and proteomes of many pathogens, including malaria parasites. These informations give a clearer and more detailed picture that provides the foundation for new approaches to refine existing targets as well as to identify new target antigens for the development of more efficient and effective vaccines, drugs and diagnostic tests. It is clear that further progress is needed for the development of a malaria vaccine, based on basic research, in order to identify new target antigens and better understand how different adjuvants will affect balance, sustainability, and the effectiveness of the responses. To hope for an effective vaccine, emphasis should be placed on mixtures of antigens combined with potent adjuvants, not only to induce the necessary effective responses, but also to increase the possibility of inducing at least partial

Innovative genome-based vaccination strategies have shown the potential of a number of pathogens, including malaria. A rational genome-based vaccine design, allowing the selection of the best possible targets by prioritizing antigens according to clinically relevant criteria (frequency and magnitude of the clinically relevant immune response and/or biological function), will overcome the problem of poor immunogenicity and poor vaccine protection that have undermined the develop-

The use of gene drive technology could revolutionize ecosystem management. These emerging technologies with potential global effects are being offered to researchers and now subject to public discussions regarding environmental and safety concerns. The relative protection against malaria that heamoglobinopathies would confer, justify justly that we are still investigating this correlation to deter-

mine all its nature and its power. Despite this relative advantage over the

national responses, with adequate funding and human resources.

cross-immunity by including a range of Plasmodium epitopes.

ment of malaria vaccines in the past 30 years.

**24**

cost, available, and easy to administer.

*Human Blood Group Systems and Haemoglobinopathies*

which threatens to undermine our efforts.

**5. Perspectives**

We would like to acknowledge all authors whose articles were cited in this chapter.

## **Conflicts of interest**

The authors have declared no conflict of interest.

## **Authorship contributions**

BEC wrote the manuscript. SBS read and approved the final manuscript and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

## **Contributor information**

Bougouma Edith Christiane, Email: eddy.cnrfp@gmail.com/e.bougouma@gras. bf. Sirima Bienvenu Sodiomon, Email: s.sirima@gras.bf/gras@fasonet.bf

## **Funding statement**

The authors received no specific funding for this work.
