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Africa: U.S. Funding Cuts Imperil Search for HIV Vaccine
spotlight, 10 March 2025
A groundbreaking project to study potential HIV vaccines in several African countries has been derailed by an abrupt cut in funding from the United States government. As a result,… Read more »
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Africa: It Is a Time for Solutions, Says Prof Tulio De Oliveira in Face of U.S. Funding Cuts
spotlight, 24 February 2025
Cuts to United States spending on aid and medical research have caused widespread havoc and anxiety in the last month. Professor Tulio de Oliveira sat down with Spotlight's… Read more »
Search For HIV Vaccine Threatened by U.S. Aid Cut
Funding for a groundbreaking project by a group of researchers - who have already made significant contributions to advancing the world's understanding of HIV - has been derailed as a result of the U.S. government's decision on aid. The project brings together researchers from about eight African countries under the aegis of the BRILLIANT Consortium.
While the use of antiretroviral treatment has proven to be effective in keeping people living with HIV healthy, experts say it is not a cure. They note that the development of an HIV vaccine remains vital to ending the epidemic.
Three decades of research have failed to develop a cure for the disease - because HIV "continues to evade the immune system". A consensus has, however, emerged among researchers that to be effective, an HIV vaccine must be able to induce "broadly neutralizing antibodies".
The BRILLIANT Consortium says it is at the "cutting edge of developing and testing these new approaches".
InFocus
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Critics have warned that slashing USAID's humanitarian and health programs, which operate in 120 countries, will have devastating impacts on millions gl Read more »
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The Liberian government is struggling to address the gaps in funding that have been created after the cancelations of several projects financed by USAID, the American agency that ... Read more »
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Newborns remain one of the most overlooked populations in the fight against HIV, with an estimated 120,000 new infections annually. Professor Adrie Bekker, a neonatologist at ... Read more »
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African countries continue to reel from the effects of the freezing of USAID programs by the administration of U.S. President Donal Trump. This has resulted in significant gaps in ... Read more »
Professor Glenda Gray, President of the South African Medical Research Council, is the first author on a study about an HIV vaccine being tested in South Africa (file photo).
