Community Involvement in HIV Vaccine Development

Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations

Robin Gorna, President of AFAO, together with Peter Canavan from National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS [NAPWA] have headed an excellent team advocating for the Australian and Thai community members position within the context of the Australian HIV vaccine consortium. This Australian initiative consists of seven equal partners based within Australia, groups include University of New South Wales, University of Sydney, Australian National University, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Vaccine R&D company Virax, University of Newcastle; University of Melbourne and AFAO. The very fact that community groups have been included at the grass roots of this initiative provides some basis for "A message of Hope" in the development of a prophylactic vaccine in the Asia Pacific region. But there arose several questions that were not answered, it surely seems that this is a very sensitive situation, which needs further investigation not only from the AFAO members level but also from the Chief Investigator, Professor David Cooper.