View All Abstracts for Session 51
281 Developing HIV Vaccine Research Capability in South Africa
E. Vardas*, G. Gray, and J. McIntyre
Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hosp., Soweto and Univ. of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Background: AIDS is an important cause of death in Africa, and a safe, effective, affordable, and accessible HIV preventive vaccine offers the best and most durable prospect to control the epidemic. Researchers in South Africa have been involved in many diverse aspects of HIV infection and AIDS since the early 1980s however HIV-1 vaccine research is relatively new in this country. This presentation describes the development and current status of various components (community, cohort, clinical, and laboratory) of HIV vaccine research at the newly established HIV AIDS vaccine division (HAVD) in Soweto.
Results: HAVD was officially established in January 2001. Meetings with the existing Soweto community advisory board on research were enthusiastic. Immediately identified was an important need for more information on HIV vaccines in the community. This has been addressed in community-based HIV vaccine workshops. A well-equipped and comfortable clinical examination area has been refurbished at the hospital compound. Adjacent to this area is the basic diagnostic laboratory and specimen repository. Cohort development and identification is ongoing and the unit is now ready to test candidate HIV vaccines as they become available. The development of infrastructure and appropriate rural phase III cohorts has been initiated.
Conclusions: HIV vaccine research efforts must be regionally and locally coordinated to prevent unnecessary repetition and wasting of limited resources in Southern Africa. Potential HIV vaccine candidates must be efficiently and systematically tested in parallel phase I/II clinical trials and then moved rapidly into phase III trials. For this to occur, diverse clinical trial sites must exist in Southern Africa so that the process to regulatory approval and product licensing can be achieved as quickly as possible. Collaborative exchange with diverse international and national partners has enabled South African HIV vaccine researchers to develop the current system and will also enable future development.
Contact Author about this Abstract
