IAVI Welcomes African Summit on HIV/AIDS
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Calls for Support of AIDS Vaccines and Plan for Vaccine Access
ABUJA, Nigeria, 22 April 2001 - As world leaders gather this week for
the African Summit on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Related Infec-
tious Diseases, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI)
urges all in attendance to work to accelerate the development of pre-
ventive vaccines for AIDS and assure their worldwide availability.
The world must mobilize a comprehensive response to the global trag-
edy of AIDS, and preventive vaccines must be part of the strategy,
said Seth Berkley, M.D., president and CEO of IAVI. We must work to-
gether to ensure that all who are sick with AIDS receive the best
treatment available and we must redouble our commitment to education
and other existing prevention programs, while moving quickly in the
search for an AIDS vaccine, the worlds only hope of ending the epi-
demic.
We are pleased that AIDS vaccines are on the summit agenda, and espe-
cially pleased that the host country, Nigeria, has made a commitment
to a national AIDS vaccine strategy. The world must follow this lead.
IAVI applauds leaders for coming together at this critical time to
discuss ways to deal with the crisis of AIDS and other infectious
diseases in Africa, Dr. Berkley said. Epidemics thrive on silence,
and openly addressing our global emergencies is our most important
defense.
The African summit is being held 24-27 April in Abuja, Nigeria, and
is sponsored by the Organization for African Unity (OAU) and the
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Dr. Berkley is
speaking about vaccines at a panel discussion 24 April.
While no preventive vaccine for AIDS is yet available, scientists be-
lieve one is possible. It is through preventive vaccines that the
world eradicated smallpox and soon will do the same for polio. A vac-
cine for AIDS would prevent people uninfected with HIV from later
contracting AIDS.
Speed and focus are critical, Dr. Berkley said. IAVI believes that
the world should be moving as many as 25 vaccine concepts forward si-
multaneously to maximize the chance for success in the shortest time
possible.
IAVI, a non-profit scientific organization, sponsors research into
promising candidates for preventive AIDS vaccines and makes signifi-
cant investments to fast-track these products into human testing. In
exchange for its investments, IAVI secures agreements that the vac-
cines, should they prove effective, will be made available at a rea-
sonable cost in developing countries. Six IAVI-sponsored vaccines are
in development, including five for Africa.
Trial of first AIDS vaccine for Africa underway
The first human trial of a preventive AIDS vaccine designed specifi-
cally for Africa continues in Nairobi, Kenya, with more than half of
the 18 volunteers already enrolled in the testing. The trial began in
March and is expected to continue for eight to 12 months.
The HIV vaccine is tailored to clade A, the strain of HIV most common
in East Africa. The trial now underway is the first of three stages
of human testing the vaccine must pass.
The vaccine is the product of an IAVI-funded partnership between the
research teams of the University of Nairobi in Kenya and the Medical
Research Councils Human Immunology Unit at Oxford University in the
United Kingdom.
In developing and testing AIDS vaccines, IAVI works in full partner-
ship with the developing countries for which the vaccines are de-
signed. Human trials are conducted by local scientists and in accor-
dance with trial protocols and ethical guidelines established by the
countries themselves. The trial in Nairobi began following an en-
dorsement from the Government of Kenya and approvals by Kenya s Na-
tional Council on Science and Technology and the Kenyatta National
Hospitals Ethics and Research Committee.
Planning ahead for global access
IAVI s Access Project is committed to assuring that a vaccine will be
affordable for Africa and other parts of the world hit hardest by the
epidemic. But this requires that the world learn new ways of doing
business within and between the public and private sectors. The tra-
ditional paradigm for access to vaccines has been the development of
a lifesaving product for the US, Europe and Japan, followed by a
trickle down to those living in poorer countries 10 to 15 years
later. This unacceptable for any disease, and certainly so for AIDS.
At the 13th World AIDS Conference last July in Durban, South Africa,
IAVI released AIDS Vaccines for the World: Preparing Now to Assure
Global Access. This blueprint details steps the world must take to
see that an AIDS vaccine is simultaneously introduced in the coun-
tries of the North and South. This means establishing pricing and fi-
nancing mechanisms so the poorest can afford the vaccine. It also
means scaling up production capacity to meet the global demand. And
the world will need to build new delivery infrastructures, as an AIDS
vaccine will be need to be administered to high-risk groups including
adolescents, sexually active adults and drug users, and channels for
reaching these populations are woefully inadequate.
About IAVI
The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), a UNAIDS collabo-
rating centre, focuses its work on four areas: creating global demand
for AIDS vaccines, accelerating scientific progress, encouraging in-
dustrial involvement in AIDS vaccine development and working to as-
sure global access. IAVI draws most of its funding from governments,
foundations and multilateral institutions. Its major donors include
the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller, Starr and
Sloan Foundations; the World Bank; and the governments of the United
Kingdom, Netherlands, U.S., Ireland and Canada. For more information
visit
http://www.iavi.org
IAVI mission is to ensure the development of safe, effective, acces-
sible, preventive HIV vaccines for use throughout the world.
Contact:
Akin Jimoh
Tel: +234-9-523-0225
mailto:ajimoh@iavi.org
Kay Marshall
Tel: +1-212-847-1044
mailto:kmarshall@iavi.org
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Summit Media Centre
Mr. Omololu Falobi
Tel: +234-9-234-5381, 234-5413, 234-5415
Fax: +234-9-234-5487
mailto:abjsummit@skannet.com
Summit websites:
http://www.fmh-abujasummit.org
http://www.oau-oua.org/afrsummit/index.htm
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