Kampala — TWO UN agencies said yesterday results with an experimental AIDS vaccine in Thailand gave "new hope" in the fight against the disease.

But more work was needed to see if it could be used elsewhere and a commercial vaccine may require more time.

The vaccine tested on 16,000 Thai volunteers lowered the risk of HIV infection by 32 percent, the US and Thai government researchers said.

The health minister of Thailand called the outcome a "very important step for developing an AIDS vaccine".

The World Health Organisation and UNAIDS, in a joint statement, characterised the efficacy as "modestly protective".

"These results have instilled new hope in the HIV vaccine research field and promise that a safe and highly effective HIV vaccine may become available throughout the world for people most in need of such a vaccine," they said.

"It remains to be seen if the two specific vaccine components in this particular regime would be applicable to other parts of the world with diverse host genetic backgrounds and different HIV subtypes driving different regional sub-epidemics."

The vaccine is a combination of Sanofi-Aventis's ALVAC canary pox vaccine and the failed HIV vaccine AIDSVAX, made by VaxGen and now owned by the non-profit Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases.

"The study results, representing a significant scientific advance, are the first demonstration that a vaccine can prevent HIV infection in a general adult population and are of great importance," the UN agencies added.

Asked for a reaction to the Thai findings, health minister Dr. Stephen Mallinga said he first needed to study the results.

"The announcement came out today. I have not yet seen the results so I am not able to comment," he told The New Vision yesterday.

"I will only comment after receiving a copy of the results from IAVI (the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative)," said Dr. Kihumuro Apuuli of the Uganda AIDS Commission.

AIDS has had a devastating impact in Uganda. On average, 70,000 people die of the disease every year, according to the AIDS Commission.

By the end of 2008, 1.1 million Ugandans were HIV-positive, while two million children have been orphaned by the disease. In addition, there are 130,000 new infections every year.

Women are particularly affected by the epidemic in Uganda, representing 59% of those infected.

Young women are nine times more likely than young men to contract HIV, the AIDS commission says.

Uganda strives to provide free ARV treatment for those who need it.

Currently, about half of Ugandans in need of treatment are receiving ARVs - or 170,600 out of 350,000.

Globally, about 33 million live with HIV, while 25 million have died of it since its discovery in the 1980s.

Cocktails of drugs can control the virus but there is no cure. In 2007, Merck & Co ended a trial of its vaccine after it was found not to work. In 2003, AIDSVAX was found to offer no protection either.