Global and Multilateral Partnerships

Ireland ’s support to and engagement with global HIV and AIDS initiatives forms a critical component of its overall HIV response.

Irish Aid collaborates with the following key global partners: The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, The Clinton Foundation, UNAIDS, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and the International Partnership for Microbicides.

The Global Fund is the single biggest recipient of Irish Aid’s HIV and communicable diseases funding and Irish Aid’s partnership with the Clinton Foundation HIV and AIDS Initiative has enabled it to scale up funding for specific country responses in Mozambique and Lesotho. Ireland works with UNAIDS at global, regional and country levels and supports its efforts to strengthen national country responses to HIV and AIDS.

In recognition of the need for increased investment to accelerate the research and development of new prevention technologies Irish Aid is funding both the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and the International Partnership for Microbicides to advance research into these much-needed preventive technologies.

By engaging with these initiatives Ireland’s efforts towards poverty alleviation, health, HIV reduction and the Millennium Development Goals may be realised. Their contribution is seen in the increasing number of men, women and children accessing HIV prevention, treatment and care services.

AIDS Researchers Isolate New Potent and Broadly Effective Antibodies Against HIV

A team of researchers at and associated with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), supported by Irish Aid since 2001 to the tune of over €25 million, have discovered a collection of 17 novel broadly neutralizing antibodies capable of neutralizing a broad spectrum of variants of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Many leading researchers in the AIDS vaccine field believe that the structural and biochemical analysis of these antibodies hold the key for the development of an effective AIDS vaccine. This is very exciting news. It is generally believed that the global HIV and AIDS epidemic cannot be stemmed without an effective vaccine accessible to all that need it. IAVI is in the business of ensuring that global talent and efforts are coordinated in the best way possible to develop an effective vaccine as fast as possible, and that it will be available to all that need it, especially the poor, when it is licensed for use.

For further information about IAVI please see: http://www.iavi.org