• Vaccines

Vaccines

This chapter, from the White House Policy on HIV and AIDS, describes the global epidemic and outlines current American policy aimed at tackling it. The chapter discusses the nature of the crisis and its consequences. It then highlights what governments can do to create affordable access to existing treatments while encouraging research toward the development of new medical therapies to combat HIV and AIDS. The chapter also discusses Uganda’s success story in reversing the HIV epidemic, and suggests how patent rights and direct government funding can encourage innovation in research and development.

The chapter recommends a comprehensive and integrated approach of prevention, treatment and care. It stresses how compassionate pricing policies and aid from developed nations can play an important role in expanding access to treatment. The chapter notes that to continue development of better treatments, drug companies need to maintain the highest possible quality of research. Consequently, it argues that intellectual property rights are necessary to ensure incentives to create the next generation of therapies and to develop a safe and effective vaccine. [adapted from author]

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