Switzerland’s medical products authority has granted the first approval for a malaria medicine designed for small infants, touted as an advance against a disease that takes hundreds of thousands of lives, nearly all in Africa, each year.

Swissmedic gave a green light Tuesday for the medicine from Basel-based pharmaceutical company Novartis for treatment of babies with body weights between 2 and 5 kilogrammes, which could pave the way for hard-hit African nations to follow suit in coming months.