Eight countries will participate in US$45 million, five-year project led by South Africa
A US$45 million grant from the US Agency for International Development is to fund the development and testing of HIV vaccines in Africa.
Eight countries—Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe—will participate in the five-year project, which will be led by the South African Medical Research Council.
The initiative—called Bringing Innovation to Clinical and Laboratory Research to End HIV in Africa through New Vaccine Technology, or Brilliant—was announced on 21 September and aims to harness existing research expertise and investments made in community engagement in sub-Saharan Africa.
The project will carry out early-stage clinical trials of HIV vaccine immunogens, conduct laboratory analyses on samples from trials and test innovative preclinical HIV vaccine concepts. Immunogens are molecules capable of creating an immune response.
‘A beacon of hope’
Brilliant gives African scientists an “immense” opportunity to test vaccine immunogens that often originate from research in Africa, said Nigel Garrett, head of vaccine and pathogenesis research at the Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in South Africa.
Glenda Gray, outgoing president of the South African Medical Research Council, expressed gratitude to the US Agency for International Development. “This investment is not just a financial contribution; it’s a beacon of hope for HIV vaccine discovery in Africa,” she said.
Tian Johnson, co-principal investigator of community engagement advocacy and founder of the African Alliance, a rights-based advocacy group, paid tribute to the partnership between scientists and communities in the project.
“The path that will lead us to an HIV vaccine must be wide enough for scientists to walk side by side with communities, in all of our diversity,” Johnson said.