Aids vaccine 'in sight'

Scientists around the world are looking for a vaccine

Scientists at an international conference in Philadelphia say they believe a vaccine against the HIV is now feasible.

I'm optimistic that the candidates that we are testing today will be able to provide a level of immunity

David Baltimore

The conference - organised by the Foundation for Aids Vaccine Research and Development - brings together more than 1,000 delegates and is aimed at speeding research into an effective vaccine.

Most of the delegates are scientists. They say they are more hopeful than ever that a vaccine will be found, as they learn more about the human immune system.

David Baltimore, one of the conference organisers, told the BBC he was "optimistic, in a way that I wasn't a couple of years ago" that vaccines being tested now "will be able to provide a level of immunity and that will make a difference, both in the United States and abroad".

Focus on Africa

There are many potential vaccines in the pipeline, but much research is still needed to test their effectiveness and safety.

Africa has been very badly hit

Also attending the forum is the president of Rwanda, Paul Kigame, who is telling the delegates about the devastating effects of Aids on African countries.

As the conference got under way, the head of the United Nations' Aids programme, Dr Peter Piot, said nothing better illustrated the continuing destructive force of racism in the world today than the global Aids epidemic.

Speaking at the UN conference on racism in Durban, South Africa, he said if the epidemic had centred on Europe, rather than Africa, and had affected predominantly white people, the response to it would have been faster and more generous.