A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Government of India and IAVI to accelerate efforts to develop a preventive AIDS vaccine. The AIDS vaccine programme places great emphasis on the involvement of affected communities and civil society and in transparency of all aspects of clinical trial processes. A National Advisory Board was constituted to guide the programme. This Board comprises senior members of the Government of India, UN organisations, human rights activists, ethicists, economists, lawyers, health and gender experts and leading national and international NGOs. It is divided into four subgroups that focus on communications, science, access to a vaccine and social issues and meets biannually.

The National Advisory Board members advise the programme in the following areas:

• Information dissemination
• Ethics of clinical trials
• Gender and human rights issues in clinical trials.
• Issues of stigma related to participation in vaccine trials and access of HIV/AIDS vaccines
• Development of guidelines and protocols
• Research Protocols

Distribution of People Living with HIV/AIDS among high burden states of India
(Source: NACO, 2007).

The ratio of women to men living with HIV/AIDS has been steadily increasing over the past decade.

AIDS now ranks as one of the leading causes of death for women between 20 & 40 years of age in parts of Europe, sub-Saharan Africa and North America

IAVI maintains a database of all completed and ongoing AIDS vaccine trials.

This database allows users to search for any vaccine that is being tested or that has been tested in any part of the world.