The certification, a major accomplishment for the world’s most populous nation, may serve as an example to other countries struggling with malaria eradication.

Although scientists debate the ethics of deliberately infecting volunteers with SARS-CoV-2, plenty of consenting participants have been exposed to all sorts of pathogens in prior trials.

The parasite that causes malaria has evolved to evade many of the drugs that researchers have developed to fight the tropical disease.

Plasmodium falciparum has shown an ability to evade everything we throw at it, most recently artemisinin-based combination therapies, today’s front-line treatment.