Ouagadougou’s Professor Halidou Tinto Receives Nature’s 10 Prize for Malaria Vaccine Work

Ouagadougou – Professor Halidou Tinto, the director of the Nanoro Clinical Research Unit in Burkina Faso and a researcher in parasitology at the Health Sciences Research Institute (IRSS), has been awarded the prestigious Nature’s 10 prize for 2023. This recognition is for his significant contribution to the phase II and III clinical trials of the R21/MATRIX-M malaria vaccines.

According to Burkina Information Agency, which announced the award on December 13, the Nature’s 10 prize annually acknowledges “people who have mattered to science.” Professor Tinto led the clinical trials of the R21/MATRIX-M vaccines developed by the University of Oxford and the RTS, S/AS01 vaccine developed by GSK at Nanoro. These vaccines are seen as major advancements in the fight against malaria in Burkina Faso and across Africa.

R21 is the second malaria vaccine to be recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) following the RTS, S/AS01 vaccine in 2021. Clinical trials have shown that both vaccines are safe and effective in preventing malaria in children and could significantly impact public health when administered broadly.

Nature’s 10, established in 2011, annually highlights individuals who have made significant contributions to science or sparked controversies. Professor Tinto is distinguished as the only African among the 2023 winners and the second Burkinabè, following Lassina Zerbo in 2017, to receive this honor since its inception.

In addition to this latest recognition, Professor Tinto has received several accolades for his work. In 2021, he was awarded the “The Name in Science 2021” prize in Oxford, England, named the best scientist of the year 2021 by Canada’s “International Achievements Center,” and received the honorary title of “Game Changers” by the magazine Jeune Afrique, particularly for his work on the R21/Matrix-M vaccine candidate.