Background and establishment of SAAVI

The South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI) was formed in 1999 as a lead programme of the Medical Research Council (MRC) of South Africa. Primary funding was received from the Department of Health (DoH), the Department of Science & Technology (DST) and Eskom. The European Union, Transnet and Impala Platinum also fund SAAVI.

SAAVI was established to co-ordinate the research, development and testing of AIDS vaccines in South Africa. SAAVI is based at the MRC and is working with key national and international partners to produce an affordable, effective and locally relevant AIDS vaccine in as short a time as possible.

SAAVI is a highly integrated part of the worldwide drive to develop an HIV/AIDS vaccine, and enjoys close collaboration with many other global players in the field, including organisations such as the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the NIH-funded HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), the European Union (EU), the African AIDS Vaccine Programme (AAVP), the European Developing Country Trial Platform (EDCTP), the Ethiopian AIDS Vaccine Initiative (EAVI), the Nigerian AIDS Vaccine Programme (NAVP) and the Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute, as well as international biotechnology companies.

International collaboration is essential to fast track the development of an HIV/AIDS vaccine for South Africa and the rest of the world, and SAAVI values these collaborative ventures. Although closely collaborating with these and other organisations, SAAVI operates independently allowing it to pursue its own specific goals and maintain its focus on the needs of the southern African region.