During a media roundtable tagged Media Roundtable in support of New HIV Vaccine and Microbicide Advocacy Society(NHVMAS), on Wednesday in Abuja, the programme manager, NHVMAS, Mrs Florita Durueke, said, "If you see the map presented showing countries that are into vaccines and microbycides research, you will find that the West African countries are not there, including Nigeria. And Nigeria being second in terms of the HIV burden, calls for concern."
She disclosed that since the completion of the vaccine research revised plan, nothing has been done since which is to translate the research plan into action; a situation she describes as lamentable.
"I know the vaccine research plan has been revised but what we the civil society organisations (CSOs) are advocating is to move to the next stage; that is, translating the research plan into action, in terms of making sure that Nigeria takes its own place in HIV vaccine research.
There have been demonstration trials, trying to prepare Nigeria for future research. So all we need do is to support that initiative so that we will one day produce HIV candidate vaccine."
Also, the study manager, Nigerian Canadian Collaboration on AIDS Vaccine,Dr Opokoro Evaezi, stated that there was urgent need for the country to get involved in the process of developing HIV vaccine considering its huge burden.
