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MRC gets R4bn to fight Aids
26/07/2004 21:46 - (SA)
Cape Town - A European Union organisation has donated about R4bn to the South African Medical Research Council to help combat HIV/Aids, said the MRC and the funders on Monday.
Piero Olliaro, the executive director of the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP), said the money would be used on scientific research within a year.
"We have signed an agreement for three, four years. This money is for one year," he said at the MRC offices where the EDCTP officially launched its African office.
"The launch of the African office symbolises a commitment to the African partnership and the ambition of the EDCTP towards empowering African scientists," he said in a statement.
Julian Jacobs of the MRC said: "This is the initial amount. Out of those (donated) amounts, we will conduct trials and others things."
The EDCTP African office would represent the body on the continent and provide administrative and promotional support for the EDCTP programme, he said.
Need to deal vigorously with the diseases
The EDCTP was formed as a response to an appeal of African leaders contained in the Abuja Declaration to expedite the development of new and easily accessible medicines and vaccines to fight HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.
Science and Technology Minister Mosibudi Mangena, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, EDCTP leaders and William Pick, the acting president of the MRC, attended the launch.
Mangena said the EDCTP was "a strategic response to the call for comprehensive funding" to deal with HIV, Aids and other communicable diseases.
"The need to deal vigorously with these diseases was highlighted at the recent International Aids Conference in Bangkok," he said in a speech prepared for delivery at the launch.
"There is no doubt that this funding initiative to support the implementation of the EDCTP by the European Commission and member states will provide a significant financial impetus for the fight against poverty and disease."
Mangena said the "immense gesture" of the European Union and developing countries should be supplemented with other partnerships between governments, especially the pharmaceutical industry and the private sector.
"South Africa will thus maximise synergies between our national programmes such as the South African Aids Vaccine Initiative funded by our government, and the operations of the EDCTP.
Govt aware of the urgent need
"Such an alignment will ensure the leveraging of optimal returns on our collective investments," he said.
In her prepared text, Tshabalala-Msimang said the initiative "will surely unite us against TB, malaria and HIV and Aids".
"The (EDCTP) will indeed fill an important gap in our regional health initiatives," she said.
She said the government was aware of the urgent need for increased funding and capacity for clinical trials in the African region.
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HIV/Aids Special Report
