Most of the members of the public who attended the seminar came for an answer to the question: has the vaccine or cure for HIV/AIDS been found? And if not, how soon do we expect it? As they left the Congress Hall of the NICON Hilton, the venue of the first Interactive Seminar on Development and Clinical Trials of Vaccines and Drugs for HIV/AIDS and other Infectious Diseases (organised and financed by the Gede Foundation) on the night of Tuesday, May 25, they did not have a definite yes for an answer.

However, many of the attendees, especially those living with the deadly affliction in Nigeria and their supporters in the advocacy community, went home with hope and morale raised a notch higher.

The hope was hinged on the clear evidence of efforts and mission among the scientific community of the world, governments in all the five continents, manufacturers of pharmaceutical products, government officials and concerned non-governmental social groups to see that in no distant future, mankind will be able to declare victory over the scourge of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases.

The attendance and topics explored said it all. For instance, eleven resource persons from outside Nigeria joined their nine Nigerian counterparts to make the seminar a reality. These were some of the most formidable names in the world with intimidating track records of achievement in the research, development and manufacture and dissemination of drugs dealing with HIV/AIDS and related infectious diseases.

They included Dr. Hans Wolf, Gede Foundation's Advisory Board Chairman, Dr. Piero Olliaro, the Executive Director, European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership and such other resource persons as Bhara Parekh, Ph.D (USA), Colin Wright, Ph.D (UK), and Brindeiro Rodrigo (Brazil). Others were Dr. Mario Clerici, MD (Italy), Chad Womack, Ph.D (USA), Timothy Tucker, Ph.D (South Africa), Alessandro Vigano, Ph.D (University of Milan, Italy), Dorothy Helen Bray Ph.D (UK), Wolfgang Gohde, Ph.D (Germany) and Professor Charles Wabembe from the Congo Republic, who works for the World Health Organisation Regional Office for Africa.

Their Nigeria counterparts who also presented papers or participated in the discussion sessions included Dr. Sani Gwarzo of the Federal Ministry of Health, Babatunde Osotimehin Ph.D, the D-G, National Action Committee on HIV/AIDS ((NACA), Morenike Ukpong, Ph.D, Femi Soyinka Ph.D, Dora Akunyili, Ph.D NAFDAC D-G, Pat Matemilola, MD, Coordinator, Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPHWAN) and Simon Agwale, the Scientific Director of the Gede AIDS and Infectious Diseases Research Institute (GAIDRI), the chief organiser of the seminar.

After the first and second days during which the participants, especially the foreigners, were taken on a sightseeing of Abuja the, capital of Nigeria, and a courtesy visit to Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the final day was all business. Among the areas dwelt upon included progress reports on the clinical research, analysis and testing of both herbal and orthodox vaccines, drugs and microbicides, all directed towards the eradication of the AIDS pandemic around the world. There were specific case studies of the vaccine and anti-retroviral drug development programmes of specific countries such as South Africa, the European Community, Brazil and Nigeria.

In their various submissions, it was agreed that the ultimate long-term hope for the eradication of HIV/AIDS and other stubborn afflictions of mankind must lie with the development of vaccines and microbicides. Vaccines will be helpful for the prevention of infection for those who are yet to contract the HIV virus, while microbicides would come to the aid of those already infected.

It was also gathered that a cure through the development of microbicides might not be a reality until 2007-2010. Dr. Dorothy Bray of the UK therefore, cautioned that for the moment, a great deal of care effort must continue to be exerted on the making of anti-retroviral drugs (ARV's) available to as many needy people as possible.

Unfortunately, though, while HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases are basically diseases that wreak great havoc among the poor and illiterate sections of society, on the other hand they are expensive and way out of the reach of most of those affected.

According to statistics from Gede Foundation, which were sourced from World Health Organisation (WHO) record, there are an estimated 24 million people living with HIV in Africa, out of which only about 100,000 are on the ARV programmes around the continent. The others are, in a manner of speaking "condemned to death" by the fact that they are either ignorant of the existence of the ARVs or cannot afford them.

Even the few people that are on the drugs sometimes find themselves in very pitiful mess. According Matemilola, most women who are infected along with their children resort to sharing their drugs with their children due to scarcity and cost, and thus endangering the lives of everybody due to under-dosage. And as a result of lack of access, many sufferers turn to traditional or divine healers, whose remedies cannot be scientifically ascertained.

The big challenge before the world community in the short run pending the evolution of vaccines and drugs, therefore, is to attack the affliction where it thrives the most: the levels where people have fallen into the poverty trap. Up to 75 per cent of people living with the virus are in sub-Saharan Africa, where 90 per cent of children orphaned by AIDS live.

There is no doubt that Africans must take a bold step to work with the rest of the world community to draw greater attention to the scourge, with different sectors of society playing their roles. For instance, according to Bray, governments in Africa can make more effort to apply to the global fund on AIDS and also provide more in their domestic budgets to acquire more ARV's for the people.

While the scientific sector works round the clock for a permanent answer, social groups should work closer with government to create more awareness among the people about HIV/AIDS, particularly with a view to getting people to discard the stigma widely attached to it and to promote the issue of prevention.

The President and Founder of Gede Foundation, Mrs. Jennifer Atiku Abubakar, a wife of Nigeria's Vice-President, believes that Nigeria, as Africa's largest country by population, is one whose potential is limited by the incidence of HIV/AIDS and another destructive infection known as Noma.

Both are the destructive signatures of poverty. Gede is a Fulani word for "good luck" and "hope". She declared about the foundation's aspirations: "we are committed to help build the future by addressing the debilitating effects of HIV/AIDS and the Noma disease. We strive to improve the lives of those who will help realise the great potential of our country - the children. We will accomplish this by supporting effective programmes that address some of the greatest needs of the people of Nigeria in particular and Africa in general". The seminar was obviously a part of the pursuit of the goal of overall strategy.

The pursuit of the development of vaccines and drugs led the Foundation to establish the GAIDRI, of which Dr. Simon Agwale is the Head. Already, Gede has announced the date for the second seminar in May 23/24, 2005 during which participants will brief the world on the progress so far in this direction.

Agwale, while summing up the achievement of the seminar, expressed satisfaction that the momentum it sought to generate is in place and everybody is now poised for result in the race to give the world vaccines and drugs for HIV/AIDS in particular.

Agwale is pioneering a GAIDRI effort to produce a "candidate vaccine", which is undergoing the processes towards becoming one of the weapons to fight the scourge. In view of progress made so far, Dr. Bray dismisses the notion that the seminar's inability to announce the perfection of a vaccine is an anti-climax. Even though the procurement of a vaccine is still a "scientific dream" hope has been kindled for sufferers of the disease.

"The hope", she says, "is that a state of dying can be changed to a state of living and working with the disease" through the widespread administration of the anti-retroviral therapy.