According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2010, there have been a reported 219 million cases of Malaria worldwide, as well as roughly 660,000 deaths.  There has yet to be an effective vaccine for this infectious disease, but employees at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) claim that this can change in only three years. After three decades, GSK has managed to develop a vaccine that has been successfully tested to decrease the cases of malaria in children by half. Even Malaria experts have confirmed that this vaccine will be effective.

This discovery is bound to make the founders extremely wealthy. However, this is the problem; GSK will have to choose between either thriving as a corporation, or sacrificing profits to help those in need. While it may seem obvious to choose the latter, one must realize that substantial amounts of capital will have to be invested in order to produce the vaccine.

In my opinion, the vaccine should go towards the customer segments that need it the most (i.e. children in third world African countries), instead of those who can afford it. Profits should be sacrificed, so that the whole world can recover from a disease that has made people suffer for so long.

References:

Roland, Denise . “GSK malaria vaccine could be available in three years – Telegraph.” Telegraph.co.uk – Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph – Telegraph. N.p., 8 Oct. 2013. Web. 8 Oct. 2013. < http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/pharmaceuticalsandchemicals/10362319/GSK-malaria-vaccine-could-be-available-in-three-years.html>

“Malaria.” WHO. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2013. <http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/>

Picture: http://www.indexoncensorship.org/2012/08/the-case-for-open-access/