South Africa to host third global forum on TB vaccines

"This week more than 250 scientists, researchers, and tuberculosis (TB) advocates from all over the world will gather in Cape Town, South Africa, at the Third Global Forum on TB Vaccines to share findings and look to the future of TB vaccine research and development," Tom Evans, CEO of Aeras, and Jelle Thole, founder and director of the Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (TBVI), write in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, noting it is the first time the forum will be held on the African continent. "The South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI) is playing host to the global gathering at the University of Cape Town," they continue, adding, "South Africa is in a unique position as an emerging economy at the cutting edge of innovation and scientific research coupled with a devastating TB epidemic, in which TB incidence has increased by 400 percent over the past 15 years, and where control is hampered by HIV co-infection and a rising number of patients affected with MDR strains" (3/26).

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