Statement on G-8 Endorsement of HIV Vaccine Enterprise

SEATTLE -- Patty Stonesifer, Co-chair & President of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, issued the following statement today on the G-8’s endorsement of the HIV Vaccine Enterprise:

We welcome the G-8’s endorsement of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise. This is an important step forward in mobilizing the critical resources—intellectual, political and financial—to accelerate the search for an HIV Vaccine. To succeed this will need to be a truly collaborative, global effort that will require the commitment and support of not just the G-8, but of all concerned parties—including the scientific and political leadership of those countries bearing the brunt of the AIDS pandemic, other donors, people living with AIDS and the private sector. We are delighted that the U.S. has chosen to spotlight this important initiative at the Sea Island Summit and has committed to participate in this effort in the years ahead. Only through the creation of an HIV vaccine, will the world succeed in finally conquering AIDS.

The Enterprise will function as a virtual consortium by enhancing coordination, information sharing and collaboration globally, mounting an organized attack to develop an HIV vaccine, which is one of the most difficult challenges that biomedical science is confronting. In the next year we hope that G-8 and other donors will start to align existing resources and identify new resources to support the Enterprise’s objectives. Our hope is that by the end of 2004, the Enterprise’s strategic plan will be fully developed and that by June 2005, the next G-8 meeting will be able to announce further concrete steps to support the Enterprise’s work.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has supported the Enterprise effort through its partnership with leaders in the HIV vaccine search, including financial support for organizations such as the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition.