GENEVA - The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended on Monday the use of a second malaria vaccine to curb the life-threatening disease spread to humans by some mosquitoes.

"Almost exactly two years ago, W.H.O. recommended the broad use of the world's first malaria vaccine called RTS,S," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing in Geneva.

"Today, it gives me great pleasure to announce that WHO is recommending a second vaccine called R21/Matrix-M to prevent malaria in children at risk of the disease."

R21/Matrix-M, developed by Britain's University of Oxford, will be rolled out in some African countries in early 2024 and available mid-2024 in other countries, Tedros said, adding that doses would cost between $2 and $4.

(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber in Geneva and Leo Dsouza in Bengaluru; Editing by Gareth Jones)