SAAVI news releases
18 May 2004

World AIDS Vaccine Awareness Day

Transnet comes on board to support HIV/AIDS vaccine development
Transnet, the holding company behind South Africa's largest transport businesses, has come on board in supporting HIV/AIDS vaccine research and development in South Africa with a sponsorship of R1,5 million to the South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI). In so doing, Transnet joins fellow corporate Eskom, the Medical Research Council and the government in a commitment to stopping the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the country through a concerted, long-term, collaborative effort to find an effective vaccine against HIV/AIDS.

In announcing the sponsorship, Transnet Chairperson, Dr Bongani Khumalo, said he believed that AIDS management strategies together with the development of a preventative vaccine for AIDS are business imperatives. He added that this funding signalled the beginning of a long-term relationship with SAAVI.

"If we are to successfully tackle this epidemic we need a concerted, national approach that combines prevention and treatment," said Dr Khumalo. "Vaccines are the cornerstone of effective disease control and eradication. South African business needs to come forward urgently to invest in a future AIDS-free South Africa."

"Transnet has a dual mandate to grow as a business while being a catalyst for economic growth," he continued. "This mandate is threatened by the rampant growth of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the region and we need to find all conceivable ways to stop it, and to protect the economic and social development of our region and peoples."

Dr Khumalo also pledged his personal support for the initiative and offered to act as an ambassador for HIV vaccine research and development as the best hope to eradicate the epidemic.

"Transnet must be congratulated and thanked for their foresight in initiating what we know will be a long-term relationship with SAAVI," said SAAVI Director, Dr Tim Tucker, in response. "HIV vaccine R&D is an expensive, long-term undertaking, and will require ongoing support and partnerships such as this from all sectors to be successful."

Transnet Limited is the largest single transport company in southern Africa with a workforce of about 80 000 employees. It is a public company with the South African government as its sole shareholder. Transnet consists of nine divisions - Spoornet, Petronet, South African Port Operations, Propnet, National Port Authority, Transtel, Metrorail, Freightdynamics, Transwerk, and a number of subsidiaries and related businesses.

The funding will be used to finance SAAVI's complex and multifaceted range of activities extending from basic laboratory research to develop new test vaccines, to running ethically sound clinical trials, research into the epidemiological, actuarial, socio-behavioural, ethics and human rights aspects of vaccine development, and extensive community preparedness activities.

SAAVI was established in 1999 by the South African government and Eskom (the southern African electricity supplier) in a unique public-private partnership to co-ordinate the research, development and testing of HIV/AIDS vaccines in South Africa. SAAVI is a national body housed at the South African Medical Research Council (MRC). SAAVI works and collaborates with key national and international partners, with the aim of producing an affordable, effective and locally relevant HIV/AIDS vaccine for southern Africa.

For further details, contact:

SAAVI
Dr Tim Tucker
SAAVI Director
Tel: +27 (0) 21 938 0262, e-mail: saavi@mrc.ac.za

Michelle Galloway
Media and Communications Manager
Tel: +27 (0) 21 938 0205, 082 553 1149, e-mail: michelle.galloway@mrc.ac.za

SAAVI Vaccine Info-line
080 VACCINE
http://www.saavi.org.za

Transnet
Dr Bongani Khumalo
Tel: +27 (0) 11 308 2737, e-mail: Karin.keble@transnet.net