OUAGADOUGOU, Oct 29 (AFP) - Malaria in Burkina Faso claims nearly 20,000 lives annually and is more fatal than the HIV-AIDS pandemic, Health Minister Pierre Tapsoba said in Ouagadougou Monday.

"Malaria is the foremost cause of deaths, one dies unnoticed contrary to deaths due to AIDS," he said at the opening of a malaria vaccine conference in this capital city.

The minister said the success of the fight against malaria depended on early detection, better preventive measures and appropriate treatment.

He said a problem was the growing immunity of the vector and the female anophles mosquito to anti-malarial drugs and medicines and pesticides.

Tapsoba stressed the need for a vaccine that would protect children under five years old from malaria.

Wen Kalima, the coordinator of the conference, said malaria was the largest killer of children under five in sub-Saharan Africa.

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