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Maiteko a Tshireletso HIV Vaccine Initiative Along with the laboratory investigations dedicated to developing a safe and effective HIV vaccine for southern Africa, the Botswana–Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership is currently collaborating with local, regional and international institutions and organizations to develop the necessary infrastructure and community awareness to conduct vaccine trials in Botswana. This effort, called "Maiteko a Tshireletso" means "protection effort" in Setswana. A community advisory board has been established to advise the researchers, as well as to educate the community and individuals who are considering volunteering for vaccine trials. This initiative involves various collaborations. In-country partnerships exist with the Government of Botswana through the Ministry of Health, National AIDS Council, National AIDS Coordinating Agency, the AIDS/STD Unit, and the Vaccine Committee of the Ministry of Health, as well as the Maiteko a Tshireletso Community Advisory Board. The Botswana–Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership has international partnerships with the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, the National Institutes of Health, and the African AIDS Vaccine Program. No HIV vaccine design will be evaluated in large-scale efficacy trials until it had been fully approved for safety, and such designs will be concurrently tried for safety in southern Africa and in the United States. HIV Vaccine Research Studies The Maiteko a Tshireletso HIV Vaccine Initiative is currently collaborating with the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN… link here) to conduct the following studies: Vaccine Preparedness Study The Vaccine Initiative will include a number of vaccine studies, beginning with a Vaccine Preparedness Study (VPS). The VPS is designed to evaluate the site’s ability to recruit and retain individuals at risk for HIV infection, provide responsible and comprehensive HIV counseling and testing for study volunteers, evaluate changes in HIV risk behaviors over time, and assess HIV incidence over time. Results from the VPS will guide investigators in the appropriate design of future vaccine trials and other preventive interventions, and will provide researchers and public health officials with valuable information about the demographic characteristics and HIV risk behaviors of the sample population, in addition to important data on the incidence of HIV and the prevalence of other sexually transmitted infections in Botswana. Such information can inform efforts to improve health care and health education in Botswana and to allocate resources where most needed. Substudies of the VPS will include an assessment of the impact of alcohol use on HIV risk behaviors. There are also plans to develop and test a prototype informed consent process for vaccine efficacy trials. Phase I Vaccine Trial Another forthcoming study of this initiative will be a phase I trial of an HIV vaccine. This trial will be conducted among a small group of volunteers as a first step in evaluating a product that is being considered for larger-scale efficacy trials in the future. |