Search
  1. Home
  2. Southern Africa
  3. South Africa

SAAVI praises sung by govt

    JOHANNESBURG

    The South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI) has made "unprecedented progress" towards finding an HIV vaccine, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Thursday.

    SAAVI has two vaccines developed by researchers at the University of Cape Town, which are being manufactured for use in clinical trials in 2007.

    According to the government news agency, BuaNews, the minister commented that these strides "make SAAVI a leading biotechnology initiative in the developing world, if not in the developed world".

    Trial sites have been set up in the port city of Durban and northwest of Pretoria, while preparatory work had been done for developing sites in the eastern Cape province town of Mthatha, and Agincourt in the Bushbuckridge area of Limpopo province.

    Although hailed by some scientists as the 'holy grail' of HIV prevention, there is no effective vaccine available on the market as yet.

    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

    Share this article

    Our ability to deliver compelling, field-based reporting on humanitarian crises rests on a few key principles: deep expertise, an unwavering commitment to amplifying affected voices, and a belief in the power of independent journalism to drive real change.

    We need your help to sustain and expand our work. Your donation will support our unique approach to journalism, helping fund everything from field-based investigations to the innovative storytelling that ensures marginalised voices are heard.

    Please consider joining our membership programme. Together, we can continue to make a meaningful impact on how the world responds to crises.

    Become a member of The New Humanitarian

    Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

    Join