A comprehensive worldwide strategy to accelerate the process of creating a vaccine against HIV was launched in Spain this month.
The Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise Strategic Plan will run from 2018 to 2023, and aims to speed up vaccine rollout by making it easier to do R&D and complete the legal requirements of marketisation. The strategy was presented on 21 October at a conference in Madrid, Spain.
Although the global number of new HIV infections is decreasing, the virus is on the rise among specific key populations, such as young women, sex workers and people who inject drugs, said Linda-Gail Bekker, a former president of the International AIDS Society (IAS).
We have not yet managed to eradicate an infectious disease in the world without vaccines,” she told SciDev.Net. “[The strategy] will help us deal more effectively with the groups that are most affected by the virus and yet don't easily find our services.”
The strategy focuses on three areas of action: increasing funding for R&D, improving knowledge sharing among researchers and clearing regulatory pathways to ensure that a potential vaccine reaches the people who need it as fast as possible. Proponents of the strategy said it was urgent, because two ongoing clinical trials for a potential HIV vaccine are looking promising. Read more via SciDev