Africa Analysis: Capacity building in HIV vaccine R&D

As the world commemorates the 21st anniversary of the World HIV Vaccine Awareness Day (HVAD) today (18 May), I want to turn the spotlight on the growing role of African scientists in the race towards HIV preventionresearchand ending AIDS epidemic.

在过去的25年中，我荣幸地为非洲批判性研究人员提供领导地位的一部分HIV/AIDSprevention research globally.

Earlier HIV prevention efforts

My own journey began in 1986 as a graduate of medicine and surgery at the Makerere University Medical School in Kampala, Uganda. The end of my undergraduate training had coincided with the appearance of the first patients of “Slim”disease– the beginning of AIDS epidemic in Uganda. As a young medical officer, I found myself at the centre of an epidemic that was ravaging the country with one in every ten people infected with HIV in the rural areas and up to five times more along the Trans African highway within Uganda.

“I find it most encouraging that research led by African scientists has contributed to the global evidence informing policies for HIV prevention today.”

Anatoli Kamali, International Aids Vaccine Initiative

照顾影响有限的绝症患者 - 这种情况在许多撒哈拉以南非洲国家中发挥了作用 - 非常具有挑战性。我很快就面临这样一个现实，即没有预防性的艾滋病毒疫苗，仅凭医疗和公共卫生方法就无法结束流行病。

我在80年代后期在英国伦敦卫生和热带医学学院进行的研究生培训为我提供了一个很好的机会，可以专注于艾滋病毒/艾滋病流行作为公共卫生威胁。我知道迫切需要researchthat would give a clearer understanding of the epidemic and informpolicies指导预防和治疗干预措施。

返回乌干达后，我加入了一个由外籍人士组成的团队，在乌干达的医学研究委员会/乌干达病毒研究所组成的首次主要基于农村人群的流行病学和临床研究之一。这项研究提供了对艾滋病毒传播动态的最初理解，并为非洲农村地区的测试和咨询提供了机会，作为第一个预防艾滋病毒的支柱。

Towards ending HIV/AIDS threat

A quarter of a century later, the AIDS epidemic is still a huge public health threat in many Sub-Saharan African countries, despite major achievements from HIV prevention and treatment research. With high mortality rates and close to2016年在撒哈拉以南非洲的110万新感染, it is as clear to me now as it was when I was a young medical officer that we need to accelerate the search for an HIVvaccineif we are to end AIDS epidemic for good.

最近的建模分析project that even with stepped-up efforts to implement current treatment and prevention programs, hundreds of thousands of new HIV infections would still occur annually in the Sub-Saharan Africa region.

In the face of this continuing challenge, I find it most encouraging that research led by African scientists has contributed to the global evidence informing policies for HIV prevention today. Over the years I have had the opportunity to lead several studies in HIV epidemiology and studies which engage populations at higher risk of HIV/AIDS including young women and adolescent girls andfishingcommunities.

我还领导了试验，以评估单独的行为改变干预措施的影响，或结合改善对HIV传播的性传播感染的治疗。我还领导着阴道杀菌剂的早期和晚期试验，以及HIV疫苗研究和早期HIV疫苗试验的准备。

Value of research partnerships

Research partnerships have provided opportunities tobuild African capacityin HIV research. For example, high-level laboratory and clinical facilities are now in place to support the conduct of current and future trials that would have only been done in developed countries, and there is a growing number of highly trained African scientists in different areas of research for HIV prevention including vaccine development.

“With continued commitment from governments, international agencies, researchers and many other partners, we will find an HIV vaccine and end the HIV/AIDS pandemic.”

Anatoli Kamali, International Aids Vaccine Initiative

艾滋病毒/艾滋病研究中非洲研究能力发展的一个杰出例子是加速疫苗和新技术的开发，以打击艾滋病的流行（ADVANCE),国际艾滋病疫苗我之间的伙伴关系nitiative and research partners in clinical research centres in five African countries in Southern and Eastern Africa: Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia . Through this USAID-supported partnership, nearly 50 staff from clinical research centres have been awarded master’s, doctorates or postdoctoral fellowships, with 20 junior staff advancing to the position of principal investigator or trial director.

Supporting women scientists

更重要的是，专注于支持女科学家的关注导致50％的获奖者是女性研究人员。超越奖学金，ADVANCEpartnership is building on, and linking African scientists’ competencies in HIV vaccine research and development to Indian, UK and US researchers and institutions through theVaccine Immunology Science and Technology for Africaprogramme. These opportunities are attracting Western-trained African scientists back to Africa to pursue cutting-edge HIV vaccine research.

这样的发展确实激发了我的信心，即通过政府，国际机构，研究人员和许多其他伴侣的持续承诺，我们将找到一种艾滋病毒疫苗并结束艾滋病毒/艾滋病大流行。

随着年龄的增长，我们绝不能通过非洲驱动的研究而失去势头。

New investments towards controlling the epidemic should aim at sustaining the gains made in HIV vaccine research and development, and focus on equipping and resourcing African scientists and research institutions to take the lead in the design andassessmentof the next generation of HIV vaccine candidates for Africa.

Anatoli Kamali is the Africa regional director for the International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), and lead for the Accelerating the Development of Vaccines and New Technologies to Combat the AIDS Epidemic (ADVANCE) partnership,and an Honorary Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology. He can be reached atakamali@iavi.org

This piece was produced by SciDev.Net’s Sub-Saharan Africa English desk.