HIV Vaccines - Accelerating the Development of Preventive HIV Vaccines for the World: Summary Report and Recommendations of an International Meeting

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Due to the important implications of starting a new initiative and the resources that will be
required, participants considered that the plan needed further discussion to define more
accurately the steps that will need to be taken. In particular, additional guidance will need to be
sought from the private sector. For the short term the meeting recommended that:
* The concept of the establishment of a new initiative should be discussed with potential
collaborators;
* A preliminary scientific research agenda should be developed;
* A proposal detailing the scientific and business plan of the initiative, organizational
structure, and funding mechanism should be developed.
The participants at the Bellagio meeting considered that the development of preventive HIV
vaccines appropriate for worldwide use was of great urgency and deserving of extensive support.
The World Bank's 1993 World Development Report concludes that "Historians will look back on
the latter half of this century as having had one great medical triumph, the eradication of
smallpox, and one great medical tragedy, AIDS." Perhaps it is not too late for the world to rise to
the challenge of averting this tragedy.