IAVI and its research partners take a comprehensive approach to AIDS vaccine research and development. Where possible, we address the public health and development issues related to HIV and AIDS as an integral part of our efforts. Our approach involves:

• Identifying and addressing the needs of research volunteers and the communities from which they are drawn

• Ensuring that volunteers are treated in accordance with the highest of ethical standards, and that their rights and dignity are protected at all times

• Optimizing opportunities for the communities in which the research takes place to benefit as a whole

In preparing for clinical trials and related studies, research centers that collaborate with IAVI engage a range of constituencies to build public knowledge about the proposed research and generate support for the effort. Researchers reach out to surrounding communities to learn from them, incorporate their views in the design of research processes, and engage the interest of potential research participants.

IAVI supports collaborating research centers in all of these efforts.

We also work with our partners to ensure that volunteers have access to high quality services at research centers, including  voluntary HIV counseling and testing (VCT), basic health care, HIV risk-reduction counseling and family planning. Counseling and education help to ensure that volunteers fully understand their rights and obligations over the full course of a clinical study in which they have agreed to participate. We are diligent about keeping the research processes we employ gender-sensitive and appropriate to the unique needs of socially vulnerable populations.

Many of our efforts help to improve health care and other services available to people in the broader communities in which we work.