During the 5th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, scientists "renewed the call for more immediate and urgent effort to be directed towards HIV prevention amid the dominance of treatment interventions and the world-wide search for a quick fix vaccine, which many agree, is years away," Health-e/allAfrica.com reports (Thom, 7/22).

Data was presented from ongoing trials of microbicides and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis trials, including a Phase III trial on the microbicide Pro2000 involving more than 9,389 women and an "adherence and drug absorption study" that looks at "whether antiretrovirals (ARVs) can be used effectively for HIV prevention in the form of a applicator gel or a pill that can be taken orally once a day - also known as PrEP.

The Times of Zambia/allAfrica.com examines the announcement by scientists representing the Microbicide Trials Network at the conference about plans for a large-scale microbicide clinical trial involving about 5,000 women from Zambia, Uganda, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa. The trial is expected to take about three and half years, with results available in 2012, a co-chair of the study said.

François Venter, president of the Southern African Clinicians Society, "said though the research shows promise there are numerous issues that need to be addressed," the Health-e/allAfrica.com writes, including accessibility of products and the "uncertainty on whether developing countries will be able to afford providing PrEP to patients not yet infected when they are currently struggling to provide treatment to those already infected".

Executive director at the Center for Evaluation Research and Surveys at the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico, "said greater emphasis needed to be placed on getting value from investments," which would require "a shift in thinking from a short-term emergency response to a more efficient, long-term approach." An analysis of 28 "completed biomedical prevention trials" revealed "only four, including three trials of male circumcision, have reported significant efficacy," according to Robert Gray of Johns Hopkins, who "argued for conducting fewer trials, but with a greater investment in rigor and quality,".