Tackling AIDS in Africa: preparing for vaccine research
26 April 2006
Medical Research Council scientists in Uganda have recruited volunteers to take part in an HIV vaccine feasibility study.
The study is being prepared so that once a vaccine is ready for large scale trials, it can be tested as efficiently as possible. More than 1000 volunteers from three communities at Masaka in Uganda have been recruited to take part.
The MRC scientists, in collaboration with the International Aids Vaccine Initiative, have also identified the first couples where one partner is HIV positive, the other negative, who have volunteered to take part in the feasibility study.
The trial’s co-ordinator Eugene Ruzagira explained why the area was chosen: “There is a high number of people known to be HIV positive in these communities. We know from previous studies that a significant number of people become newly infected. So it’s clearly a good place to test a candidate vaccine because the effectiveness of any vaccine would be clearer here.”
The researchers involved in setting up the trial are keen to stress to people ways to avoid becoming infected with HIV. Even without a vaccine, they have managed to reduce the numbers contracting the virus. Allen Kekibiina, who’s a counsellor for the Vaccine Preparedness Study, explains: “When they come in, we do counselling before they have an HIV test. We then carry out the test and process them on site. Our trouble is that there is still no vaccine. But we know we can reduce the number of people being infected through counselling, condoms and treating sexually transmitted infections.”
The MRC has been working in three communities near Masaka since 2003 to put into place the infrastructure needed for the trials, including buildings which will be handed over to the Masaka district local government once the trials are finished.
