By Frank Kamuntu
The IAVI-ADVANCE (Accelerate the Development of Vaccines and New Technologies to Combat the AIDS Epidemic) team on Friday convened in Entebbe at Uganda Virus Research Institute and held discussions with their partners the MRC/UVRI & LSHTM Uganda Research Unit members.
The discussions were mainly aimed at networking and sharing ideas on how to boost capacity around HIV vaccine development.
For some of our readers, MRC/UVRI & LSHTM Uganda Research Unit is an internationally recognized centre of excellence for research and training. The Unit was established in 1988 to improve the understanding and control of the HIV epidemic in Uganda and globally, following a request from the Uganda Government to the United Kingdom (UK) Government. After wide consultations, and in response to the changing public health landscape, Unit work has broadened beyond HIV to include other infections, neglected, endemic, emerging and re-emerging infections and non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
The Unit is one of two (2) UKRI/MRC Units outside the UK, the other one in the Gambia. With a strong affiliation with the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), the Unit enjoys vital representation at the government level, which facilitates the translation of research findings.
The Unit has a mission of conducting high-quality research that adds knowledge and leads to improved control of infectious and non-communicable diseases in Uganda, Africa and globally, through translation of scientific findings into policy and practice, and rigorous research capacity building.
The Unit working with other international agencies like IAVI, provides a high-quality research and research training environment.
”We are committed to delivering impactful collaborative research and capacity building through strategic multi-level partnerships with the Uganda government, national, regional and international research and academic institutions, as well as research communities, without whose support important studies cannot be conducted,” said Nancy Nandudu, head of communications and engagement at MRC/UVRI.
The Unit is also a key partner on a number of regional health-focused platforms, including The East African EDCTP network, the Lake Victoria Research Consortium, IAVI regional network, Africa CDC and WHO.
ADVANCE’s Efforts For HIV Free WorldÂ
ADVANCE (Accelerate the Development of Vaccines and New Technologies to Combat the AIDS Epidemic) is a 10-year cooperative agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
The program is part of IAVI’s ongoing 22-year collaboration with USAID which has significantly advanced HIV vaccine R&D while accelerating the search for innovative biomedical prevention tools, including a safe and globally effective HIV vaccine.
Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region most severely affected, with 25 million adults and children living with HIV and AIDS and where researchers find the most genetically diverse HIV sub-type infections.
ADVANCE has a goal of a safe and globally effective HIV vaccine and biomedical prevention products developed with leadership by African and Indian stakeholders that are available and accessible for populations at risk of infection.
The ADVANCE partner network includes state-of-the-art African and Indian clinical research centers, and extensive laboratory and research capabilities are available including the IAVI-Human Immunology Laboratory, based at Imperial College London; the IAVI Neutralizing Antibody Center, based at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California; and the HIV Vaccine Translational Research Laboratory at the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, based in Faridabad, Haryana, India.
