G8 to back global AIDS vaccine plan

SAVANNAH, Ga., June 8 (UPI) -- The Group of Eight nations will back the setting up of a global HIV vaccine enterprise, a plan to spur the development of a vaccine for the disease.

"The president and the G8 will establish this Global HIV vaccine enterprise, that will help enhance coordination, information sharing and collaboration globally, as we seek to find this vaccine," said Jim Wilkinson, deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for communications.

More than 40 million people suffer from HIV/AIDS worldwide and the United States spends $15 billion on AIDS relief and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The initiative will ask the vaccine enterprise to prioritize scientific challenges and fill gaps in knowledge, to coordinate product development and align and existing and new resources to the needs at hand.

The G8 nations -- the United States, Britain, France, German, Italy, Canada, Russia and Japan -- are meeting on Sea Island, Ga., through Thursday.