The consensus among attendees - who included Stavros Nicolaou of Aspen Pharmacare,  Prof Gavin Churchyard of the Aurum Institute, Zaheer Hammersley of Careways and Elijah Tjiane  of Pfizer Laboratories - was that there is an urgent need to bring together academic institutions, the private sector and government "to pool resources and to conduct collaborative research".

The South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) was formed to strengthen the political leadership as well as to ensure inclusion of civil society in the overall response to HIV and AIDS. The Council is composed of both government and civil society organisations.  However, the DST and SABCOHA believe that there is a need for a co-ordinating centre for HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention research in South Africa.

It was noted at the meeting that international research funding for health is being slashed. Professor Helen Rees of the Reproductive Health & HIV Research Unit (RHRU) said: "There is a very real threat that funding sources in the health sector is going to end." Professor Rees noted that the "G8 funding priorities do not include HIV/AIDS and that South Africa is being crossed off lists as we are a middle-income country". She argued that PPPs are the solution to the problem, a view that was endorsed by SABCOHA CEO Brad Mears.  Professor Rees is also part of SANAC in the positions of Co-Chair of the Programme Implementation Committee (PIC) and Chair of the Prevention Sector Research Sub-committee.

Ms Glaudina Loots, who accompanied Deputy Minister Hanekom to the meeting, pointed that the DST has established the South African HIV/AIDS Research and Innovation Platform (SHARP) to fund basic and applied research in HIV/AIDS. SHARP is in keeping with the DST's mandate to ensure that science and technology makes an impact on growth and development in South Africa. The department is providing funding for SHARP to achieve its objectives and the platform is being managed by LIFElab. 

The official launch takes place 28 July 2009 in Sandton, Johannesburg (see attached invitation). The DST said in a statement regarding Sharp that "it is through public/private partnerships as well as collaborations within HIV/AIDS research that the challenges posed by this epidemic can be meaningfully addressed".

The DST said that SHARP aims to find solutions to the challenges presented by HIV/AIDS through innovative concepts. "The focus of the platform is to facilitate development of South African based solutions that will contribute to the overall knowledge of HIV and AIDS thereby enhancing the development of new products and services. The research and innovative platform will concentrate on fundamental research activities that will provide answers to research work on anti-retrovirals, microbicides, vaccines and diagnostics developed for HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention."

The platform will focus on the following areas to achieve its overall aims:

• Provide funding for basic and applied research in the areas of prevention and therapeutics;
• Build and strengthen research leadership for the future through capacity building efforts for post-graduate students;
• Encourage and facilitate collaborations;
• Manage intellectual property and technology transfer;
• Attract additional funding; and
• Engage with the private sector to encourage strategic partnerships.

Professor Rees pointed out that South Africa is conducting vaccine trials but is not involved in product development, and raised the issue of whether there is a case for a national laboratory to overcome the reliance of often fickle foreign donors who set the agenda for South Africa.  Deputy Minister Hanekom said: "Perhaps there should be a central fund that is not managed by government but an organisation such as SANAC?"

 In summing up, Mears called the meeting "very provocative" and said that the discussion "gives me hope and vigour". "We need to continue to improve SANAC, develop industrial policy to produce drugs and vaccines in South Africa and to develop local funding sources as well as manage foreign donor relationships." It was agreed that there would be closer cooperation between the DST, academic institutions, researchers and SABCOHA. - Les Tilley for SABCOHA

About SANAC

The Deputy President of South Africa is the Chairperson of SANAC. The Deputy Chairperson (Mr M Heywood) is from civil society. The Department of Health plays a central role in providing advice and support on issues relating to HIV and AIDS policy, and is an ex officio member of all levels of SANAC.