$10.4 million to provide support for HIV/AIDS research in Peru, Thailand, Cambodia and Russia

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson has announced four new grants totaling $10.4 million to provide support for HIV/AIDS research in Peru, Thailand, Cambodia and Russia, four nations that have been hard hit by the AIDS epidemic.

The funds for the awards come from the Comprehensive International Program of Research on AIDS (CIPRA), which is administered by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.

"A global crisis demands a global response," Secretary Thompson said. "To control and curtail the pandemic, inexpensive, effective and logistically feasible measures of HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention are urgently needed. By building research capacity and infrastructure in countries where the HIV/AIDS burden is highest, CIPRA grants help meet this urgent need."

CIPRA grants are awarded to resource-limited countries. One eligibility requirement is that applications come from countries that have a Gross National Income per capita equal to or less than U.S. $5,000. Since the first awards in September 2001, 33 grants have been made to researchers in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and Central and South America. More information on the CIPRA program is at http://www.niaid.nih.gov/daids/cipra.

"In many countries with high rates of HIV/AIDS, the baseline clinical data and research infrastructure needed to accurately characterize the epidemic are lacking," noted NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. CIPRA tackles this problem by providing support, including training, tailored to the specific needs of the recipient country. "We hope that research conducted under the auspices of CIPRA will form a foundation for successful clinical trials of treatments and vaccines needed in the battle against HIV/AIDS," he said.

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