TB researchers and advocates must work together for a more effective vaccine

According to representatives of Aeras, a Rockville, Maryland-based non-profit dedicated to developing new vaccines for tuberculosis, TB researchers and advocates must work together to support a common goal of a more effective vaccine. Jennifer Woolley, the company’s director of advocacy, and Melody Kennell, the company’s communications and development intern, wrote that researchers and advocates can have a mutually beneficial relationship, with researchers providing the data and advocates providing the platforms for spreading the information. The authors gave several recommendations for bridging the gap between the two occasionally disparate groups. According to the authors, researchers provide advocates with the scientific evidence needed to support major messages and to lend expertise to advocacy efforts. Advocates can help to translate the findings in research and development for a lay audience and can link together researchers, other advocacy groups, policymakers, donors and communities the research is intended to serve. The authors wrote that civil society organizations...