Essay about The Science, Technology, and Ethics of HIV...

The Science, Technology, and Ethics of HIV Vaccine Research An annual report recently released by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS indicated that the number of HIV-infected individuals increased 10 percent in the last year, bringing the number of people worldwide who are now carrying the virus to over 33 million. According to the report, half of these new infections were in people15 to 24 years old, and there were 11 new infections a minute. Sub-Saharan Africa reportedly accounts for two thirds of the infected population and about 12 million AIDS related deaths. There were 200,000 new HIV infections in Latin American and the Caribbean last year and 800,000 new HIV infections reported in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.†¦show more content†¦The immunopathogenesis of HIV is known to a greater extent than that of many other infectious diseases for which a vaccine exists. Thus, the question arises as to why an HIV vaccine still does not exist. The United States and other industrialized nations â€Å"have a comparative a dvantage in creating incentive for HIV vaccine research and. . .doing to would be in their own self interest, as well as the interest of developing countries† (World Bank 268). The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has declared the development of an AIDS vaccine its highest priority. However, in 1995 â€Å"NIH had spent only $100 million on vaccine research out of a total AIDS budget of $1.3 billion† and only $180 million of a projected $1.73 billion will be spent on vaccine research in 1999 (Lancet 1323). Most of NIH’s AIDS budget will be allocated to research on pathogenesis and therapeutics. Similarly, worldwide totals for public and private investment in vaccine development â€Å"totaled a mere $160 million in 1993, compared with an estimated $1.3 billion spent on other approaches to prevent HIV infection and about $5 billion spent on HIV-related health care† (World Bank 266). Although investments in education and behavior intervention strategies seem to be paying off in the United States and Western Europe, the same approaches to HIV prevention should not be expected to have the same success in developing countries, primarily for two reasons. The first being the fact thatShow MoreRelatedAlga Produced Cholera Toxin-Pfs25 Fusion Proteins As Oral Vaccines Essay1499 Words   |  6 PagesAlga-Produced Cholera Toxin-Pfs25 Fusion Proteins as Oral Vaccines James A. Gregory, Aaron B. Topol, David Z. Doerner, Stephen Mayfield Division of Biological Sciences and the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA Third world countries have abysmal hygiene standards and biological protections with little or no access to health care and medical facilities. 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