Africa lacks capacity, equipment and funds to do AIDS vaccine research

Despite Africa contributing to 17 per cent of all AIDS vaccine trials, the continent, however, still lacks capacity in basic sciences; there is neither equipment nor the technical know-how to carry out assays locally. Worse, according to Dr. Gaudensia Mutua, Kenya AIDS Vaccine Initiative & International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, although an estimated 30 trials have been done in seven African countries, the bulk of studies are however sponsored by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and the NIAID with minimal contribution from Africa. Speaking at the First Africa Science Journalists conference in Nakuru, Dr Mutua said: “Although Africa opts to send scientists abroad with the hope that they will be back with the know-how, the governments’ failure to equip their laboratories as well as improve the working environments for scientists’ forces scientists to stay put in the countries they went to study.” She added that in the long run, Africa ends up losing people...