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The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) has said the development of a successful HIV/AIDS vaccine will require global cooperation.
According Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of the US-based initiative to research and develop potential AIDS vaccines, although the World Health Organisation's plan to put 3 million people in the developing world on AIDS drugs by 2005 prolonged lives, "this treatment does not cure people, it temporarily slows down the disease ... it is not going to be a solution".
Research suggests that the HI virus is frustrating the search for an effective vaccine by evolving strategies to elude the body's usual defences, and developing into various strains in different parts of the world.
Berkley said in a statement, "Only a vaccine can end the epidemic. Success requires a worldwide model of cooperation."
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions