On International Women’s Day, Foundation Supports New Research Agenda to Improve HIV Responses for Women and Children
March 8, 2010
Foundation Part of Expert Panel Convened by the International AIDS Society to Advance a Research Focus on Women and Children and HIV
The Foundation, the International AIDS Society (IAS), and 14 other leading public and private organizations have today released a comprehensive new research agenda designed to significantly advance global responses to HIV in women and children.
The new consensus statement,
Asking the Right Questions: Advancing an HIV Research Agenda for Women and Children, includes 20 specific recommendations to expand and improve responses to the HIV-related challenges facing women and children worldwide.
The agenda identifies priority research questions within four categories:
- Clinical research on prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) and pediatric treatment
- Clinical research on treatment issues for women
- Operations research for women
- Operations and implementation research related to PMTCT, including pediatric care, treatment and support (developed through a parallel consultative process led by UNICEF with the Interagency Task Team for PMTCT, including the WHO, UNAIDS, and U.S. agencies in collaboration with the Foundation and George Washington University)
The statement recommends increased investment in these identified areas of research, as well as the sharing of data from existing studies related to HIV and women and children. It also recommends greater collaboration between funders, researchers, health care providers, UN agencies, civil society, and the diagnostic and pharmaceutical industry to implement the new research agenda.
In addition to the Foundation and IAS, the consensus statement is endorsed by:
amfAR, AVAC, Boehringer Ingelheim, Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI); Coalition on Children Affected by AIDS (CCABA), European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG), International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW), International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC), Merck, Treatment Action Group (TAG), UNAIDS, UNICEF, ViiV Healthcare, and WHO.
For a description of the consultative process used to develop the statement, please click here:
www.iasociety.org/ilf.aspx.