GAIA VF was established in 2001 to promote the development of a global AIDS vaccine and to promote HIV trial expertise in Providence and Mali, West Africa, which are both future GAIA VF vaccine trial sites. Clinical trial infrastructure for the GAIA Vaccine trial is already in place in Providence, thanks to the efforts of GAIA Scientific advisor Ken Mayer and the HIV Vaccine Trials Network at Miriam Hospital. Therefore, GAIA VF efforts directed at vaccine trial preparedness are focused on Mali, where the GAIA Vaccine will be tested in parallel with the Providence trials. Yet conditions for HIV vaccine trials are not yet optimal for the ethical conduct of the proposed trials in Mali – nor elsewhere in sub Saharan Africa. While preparing for the GAIA Vaccine trials that will take place in Mali, West Africa, GAIA Vaccine Foundation is promoting HIV education, treatment, and vaccine trial site infrastructure development in Mali. These efforts will make it possible to assure that GAIA’s trials will be conducted using methods that are consistent with international standards for the ethical conduct of vaccine trials. GAIA believes that active, ongoing collaboration with West African physicians and support for clinical activities in the region will foster the development of the type of regional knowledge base and level of care that is needed to pursue ethical implementation of HIV care and future HIV vaccine trials in the region. As described below, GAIA VF is helping provide HIV education for professionals and engaging in outreach education for the lay public in Mali. These endeavors include conferences on AIDS for West African doctors, and newsletters for medical students and doctors in training, in addition to the active development of model HIV care centers. We have discovered in the course of our preparatory work that Individual willingness to accept vaccine trials is entirely dependent on an understanding of HIV in general and the need for an AIDS vaccine in particular. Thus – to summarize GAIA VF work in Providence and Mali over the past 5 years, we have:
Established research collaborations with Dr. Koita, Dr. Tounkara and Dr. Dao at the University of Bamako Medical School. A manuscript describing the research results was recently published in Human Vaccines, 2006. More than a dozen peer-reviewed articles describing the development of this vaccine and its scientific rationale have been published in the scientific literature. Obtained research support for these vaccine-related collaborations in the form of a Campbell Foundation award (2003-2004), a FIRCA (2005-present) and HIV R01 funding (2002- present) from the NIH. More than $2M in research funding (not for use building HIV vaccine trial infrastructure) has been awarded since 2002. Organized an annual World AIDS Day event in Providence RI. The World AIDS Day event highlights the achievements of individuals who have promoted the development of a global HIV/AIDS vaccine or distinguished themselves in their efforts to stop AIDS by Education, Prevention activities, or improving Access to care. Previous recipients of the annual “Hope is a Vaccine Award” include: Ken Mayer (Brown University), Peggy Johnston (Division of AIDS, NIH), Neal Nathanson (Office for AIDS Research, NIH), Jose Esparza (Gates Foundation), Jeffery and Sonia Sachs (Millennium Village Project). This annual event is focused on educating the Brown University and Rhode Island community about the need for an HIV vaccine. Established an annual HIV education conference for HIV providers in West Africa. The fourth successful conference was held in January 2007 this year; more than 200 HIV experts from West Africa attended. This conference began with a budget of $2000; more than $30,000 was raised to support the conference by three organizations for the past two years. The conference is an annual educational event for which GAIA VF has received considerable recognition in West Africa and the international HIV/AIDS community. Distributed more than 60,000 condoms (in Mali and in Providence, from 2002-2007). Initiated and performed two “KAP” studies to improve understanding of HIV vaccines and HIV vaccine trial willingness in Mali. Observed a high level of willingness to participate in HIV vaccine trials in the future. Presented the results of these findings to scientific peers at the World AIDS Vaccine Conference in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Established a Mother to Child HIV Transmission Prevention program (Chez Rosalie) in Sikoro, Mali (2005). Identified more than 100 women and children at risk of HIV transmission. Tested and treated more than 2,000 pregnant woman who delivered babies at Chez-Rosalie in 2005-2006. Observed that these women were not able to be treated for HIV in their home village. Understood the need to treat women for HIV in familiar settings. Established a campaign to raise funds for the Hope Center Clinic initiative so as to be able to provide care for the women and their families at the local community clinic. Obtained permission to be one of the first community-based care centers in Mali. Raised more than $250,000 to support the development of an HIV care center in Sikoro called the Hope Center Clinic from Textron, Keep a Child Alive, the Gilead Foundation, and from individual donors in Providence, RI. Completed the construction of the new clinic (Adjacent to the existing clinic in Sikoro) in March 2008. An important aspect of GAIA VF activities in Mali is to provide demonstrate that high quality HIV care can be implemented in resource-poor settings. GAIA has already established the first village-based Mother to Child HIV transmission prevention program in one of the most impoverished locations in Mali (Chez Rosalie, 2005). GAIA VF is now planning a permanent clinical HIV care center in the same village, to be called the “Centre D’Espoir” (the Hope Center Clinic). The clinic will be a beacon of hope for the women, men and children of West Africa, who will be able to access HIV prevention, education and care. That clinic is the focus of the current request. GAIA believes that connecting HIV infected patients to health care and HIV medications engenders hope for the future. Hopeful patients are excellent educators and hopeful doctors provide good HIV care. GAIA founder Dr. Annie De Groot has seen the impact of improved HIV care on other marginalized populations in the USA – in her experience, access (to medications, to HIV care, to a vaccine when one is available) = hope.
