Below is a statement from Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise executive director, Dr. Alan Bernstein.  The Enterprise (http://www.hivvaccineenterprise.org) is a global alliance of researchers, funders, policy makers and advocates that includes the African AIDS Vaccine Program, the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC), the AIDS Vaccine Asian Network, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative, the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology, the Chinese AIDS Vaccine Initiative, the Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery (CAVD), the Department for International Development, the European Commission, Europrise, Eurovacc, GlaxoSmithKline, the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), Merck & Co. Inc., the National Agency for AIDS Research (ANRS), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Novartis Vaccines, sanofi pasteur, the South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI), the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP), UNAIDS, USAID, Vaccine Research Center (VRC), Wellcome Trust and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Dr. Bernstein is available to speak with journalists to help put the Thai trial results into perspective and to comment on their significance for the future of HIV vaccine research.  To interview Dr. Bernstein, please contact Mark Aurigemma at (212) 600-1960, (646) 270-9451 or mark@aucomm.net; or Jennifer Brunet at (212) 46i-3693 or jbrunet@vaccineenterprise.org.

“This is a historic day in the 26-year quest to develop an AIDS vaccine.  The results of the Thai Phase III HIV vaccine clinical trial of the “prime-boost” combination of ALVAC-HIV vaccine and AIDSVAC B/E vaccine demonstrate that a safe and effective AIDS vaccine is an achievable goal. This trial is the first demonstration in humans that, with more research, it will be possible to develop a vaccine that is fully protective against HIV.

These results represent the most significant advance in HIV vaccine research to date, and a ray of hope for the more than 2.7 million women, men and children who become newly infected with HIV every year across the globe.  Current prevention efforts can lower HIV risk, but a safe and effective vaccine will be essential to ending this epidemic.

We owe an enormous debt of thanks to the people of Thailand, and especially to the more than 16,000 women and men who selflessly participated in this clinical trial. This significant scientific milestone – the first vaccine study to reduce HIV infections in humans – would not have been reached without their engagement and the efforts of the trial sponsors – Enterprise stakeholders including the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP), the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and sanofi pasteur – as well as the Thailand Ministry of Public Health and Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases (GSID).

The reduction in HIV infection risk measured in this study, 31.2 percent, was modest, but raises important implications for future research directions. HIV vaccine researchers, funders and advocates must now continue to work together, as quickly and effectively as possible, to understand why this vaccine regimen worked as it did, how its efficacy can be improved, whether and how it may work in other parts of the world, and how to develop new vaccine candidates that expand on the level of protection achieved here.

This study also demonstrates the importance of global cooperation and collaboration – the central values of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise – in accelerating the search for a safe and effective HIV vaccine.  Researchers, advocates, funders and policy makers are working together through the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise process to develop and test new vaccine candidates. Full data from the Thai trial will be presented at the Enterprise’s annual scientific conference, AIDS Vaccine 2009, in Paris on October 19-22. http://www.hivvaccineenterprise.org/conference/2009/

Finally, these results are an immediate call to action to governments, funders, policy makers, researchers and advocates to dramatically step up our efforts to develop and make globally available a safe and effective HIV vaccine. Stakeholders of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise will continue to lead this fight, but developing a safe and effective AIDS vaccine will require the full and collective efforts of every individual and organization worldwide committed to ending this devastating epidemic.

Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise partners will be working aggressively in the months ahead to address the many scientific questions raised by this study, and to develop and test other vaccine candidates.  The findings of this trial will also help inform strategies outlined in the updated Enterprise Scientific Strategic Plan, the global strategy for HIV vaccine research currently being developed by over 150 scientists from around the world, to be released in spring 2010.

We look forward to hosting the ongoing discussion of results of this trial and the discussion of next steps in the journey to find an AIDS vaccine at the AIDS Vaccine 2009 conference in Paris, October 19-22.

According to President Museven’s minister of health, Dr. Stephen Malinga, failure by major donor countries to adequately fund population programs is the reason why countries like Uganda have poor population policies. Dr. Malinga unleashed his attack on Uganda’s donor when he was closing an international conference on population and development which ended on November 25, 2008. The conference was held at the Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala and attended by delegates from 25 countries.

Dr. Malinga’s donor bashing did not go down well with some of the attendees.  When asked for a reaction by this reporter, one Uganda delegate said that it was embarrassing that the Uganda minister of health truly thinks that foreign countries have to give him money to formulate effective population policies. The lady delegate wondered: “After Malinga declared that the progress we have made on HIV/AIDS and Malaria can be credited to assistance USA, Canadian and European donors, why can’t he remain candid and admit that our failures on policy are due to our incompetence and rampant corruption.  Apparently he doesn’t realize it that the Uganda minister of health (himself) and his permanent secretary are responsible for developing the country’s population policies. The donors are funders and advisors. Malinga blaming the USA or Norway for Uganda’s missing population policy is like Celtel blaming its bankers for its lack of a marketing plan.”

Uganda’s ministry of health has been plagued by corruption for many years. The man whom Dr. Malinga replaced as minister is Maj. Gen. Jim Muhwezi. This Maj. Gen and his top deputies, Capt. Mike Mukula and Dr Alex Kamugisha are facing a court case for stealing millions of US Dollars from national health programs. According to the Uganda Constitution, the President, through his minister of health and his senior deputies is responsible for the formulation, funding and execution for national health policies, including those for population management. The same constitution does not even refer to foreign aid or donor funds.

Like the Uganda government, the Buganda Kingdom has no formal population policy. On one hand, Nnabagereka Nagginda has frequently called on Baganda to create families that they can afford to support. However, clan leaders, CBS Radio FM and Baganda nationalist organizations routinely encourage Baganda to have as many children as possible to guard against efforts by outsiders to take over Buganda. While Kabaka Mutebi has not made any strong statements on the question of birth control, he is an avid supporter of programs to improve the health and well being of his subjects. Indeed, he has personally participated in child immunization campaigns and similar activities.