Writing in the medical journal PloS Medicine, the leaders of eight leading global health agencies agree that it is critical to strengthen the collection, analysis, synthesis, validation, and use of health data in countries. This would “enable countries to better monitor and evaluate their own progress and performance and, secondarily, allow them to respond to the increased emphasis on results and accountability”

Researchers from the University of Maryland (USA) and the University of Bamako ( Mali) have found a new malaria vaccine to induce high and sustained antibody levels in malaria-exposed children. The early-stage (phase 1) trial was conducted among 100 children between 1 and 6 years old in a rural Malian town with intense seasonal transmission of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. The vaccine also had a good safety profile and was well-tolerated. The researchers are now testing the vaccine in 400 children in the same locality to find out if the sustained antibody response translates into effectiveness of the vaccine in protecting the children against malaria.

On 29 January 2010, WHO published a report of the twenty-first meeting of the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) held on 3-4 December 2009 in Geneva. The GACVS (an independent expert clinical and scientific advisory body) was established in 1999 to enable WHO to respond promptly, efficiently, and with scientific rigour to vaccine safety issues. 

On 24 November 2009 the World Health Organization added VACFA to the list of Vaccine Safety Net websites, because of VACFA's adherence to the credibility and content criteria of good information practices. "This site represents an important addition to the network since it is just the second site to be included from the African region" says WHO.