Maputo  - Through a combination of improved prevention, diagnostic and treatment methods Mozambique is finally turning the corner on malaria, the biggest killer of children in Africa.

The number of malaria dead in the south-east African country fell for the first time in 20 years last year - from 3,998 in 2007 to 2,949 in 2008, or about one-quarter, Health Minister Ivo Garrido was quoted by the Noticias newspaper Wednesday as saying.

Health authorities confirmed the trend, saying the number of reported cases of infection fell by 24 per cent between 2007 and 2008, to 4.8 million people, or about one in five Mozambicans.

The decline was attributed to stepped-up anti-malaria spraying campaigns in villages and the rollout of improved diagnostic tests and combination treatment.

Mozambique is also part of the global chain to find a vaccine for the disease that kills mostly children under the age of five and pregnant women.

Final-stage trials of a promising vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline are currently taking place at a research centre in Manhica, north of the capital Maputo.

Over 2,000 children have already received the vaccine in the first two phases of the trial, which confirmed the safety of the vaccine and found it reduced the incidence of malaria by over half.

Some 16,000 children are enrolled in the final stage of testing, which began in 11 centres worldwide in March.

Mozambican officials hopes to make the vaccine available to the entire population through the national health service by 2015.

In a separate triumph for the impoverished former Portuguese colony, Garrido also announced Mozambique had given leprosy the boot.

Each of the 10 provinces recorded less than one case for every 10,000 inhabitants, a rate that compared favourably with several wealthier countries like Brazil and India, Garrido noted. (dpa)