From Roselyne Sachiti in Washington DC, USA
An HIV/Aids vaccine is expected in less than 10 years, as approximately 30 vaccine candidates undergoing testing in humans by different researchers are progressing, the International Aids Vaccine

Initiative (IAVI) vice president of Vaccine Design Rick King said on Saturday.
Addressing journalists on the eve of the opening session of the XIX International Aids Conference in Washington DC, King said recent findings have energised researchers with tangible results about the vaccine slowly showing.
The week-long conference is being held in the US for the first time in 23 years and has attracted over 24 000 participants who include researchers, policy makers as well as HIV/Aids activists and the infected.
In the past 23 years the US was not allowed to host the conference due to its policy which denied visas to sero-positive people. The policy was lifted two years ago by the Obama administration. According to King, studies done in Thailand using a vaccine developed from the SIV, the animal version of the HIV, have shown encouraging results.
He said that clinical research using the same vaccine is to be done in Africa in about three years before its final approval. Currently, he said, that vaccine is being changed to suit sub-Saharan Africa. He said currently multiple vaccine research by different researchers managed by IAVI are taking place.
King added that a vaccine is urgently needed to stop the spread of the disease that has already infected over 80 million people all over the world. He said a vaccine that is 50 percent effective and has a modest coverage of 30 percent of the global population would curb half of the global HIV infections.
King said the ongoing research wants to block the entry of the virus into the human immune cell and also kill off the infected cells to ensure destruction of the virus’ next step of regeneration.