Not since the Great Plague has the world experienced an epidemic as devastating as HIV/AIDS. Since the first AIDS case was diagnosed in 1981, approximately 65 million men, women and children have been infected with HIV.

The overwhelming majority of people with HIV- 95 percent of the global total- live in developing countries, where there is little access to treatment. India has the largest number of HIV/AIDS patients in Asia and second largest in the world, after South Africa, with an estimated 5.1 million across the country.

Prevention Programmes - including education, condom and clean needle distribution and peer counseling-have slowed the spread of HIV, but not stopped it. Treatment advances have yielded important new AIDS therapies, but the cost and complexity of their use put them out of reach for most people who need the most. In industrialised nations where drugs are more readily available, side effects and increased rates of viral resistance have raised concerns about their long-term use.

Only an AIDS vaccine can end the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

We can end the AIDS for all time
The scientific consensus is that an AIDS vaccine is possible. Non-human primates have been protected by experimental AIDS vaccines. Some people repeatedly exposed to HIV resist infection and mount HIV specific immune responses, providing important clues for the design of an effective AIDS vaccine. Other infectious diseases have been controlled by vaccines. Smallpox was eradicated in 1977 because of an effective vaccine. Polio has been eliminated in the Americas and projections are that it will be eliminated globally by the end of 2005. Measles and yellow fever have been controlled by vaccines.

The prospects for success have never been greater.
Advances in molecular biology and basic HIV research have led to the development of promising strategies for effective AIDS vaccines.

Imagine a World without AIDS.
No single organisation or government can end the AIDS epidemic. Just as no country, no region, and no community is immune to HIV, all must play a role in the effort to bring the epidemic under control. With greater commitment from a range of governments, foundations, scientists and committed individuals the world will at last have a realistic chance of creating a vaccine to end AIDS for all time.

IAVI and its partners are committed to speeding the discovery and distribution of a safe, effective and accessible AIDS vaccine. Developing an AIDS vaccine to save lives and economies will be one of the world's greatest achievements. Not to do so would be one of its greatest failures.