Aiming to support innovative and basic research on strategies to prevent HIV infection and transmission, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will soon begin collaborative research involving Indian and US scientists in the area of prevention of sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS.

The research programme aims to foster development of a multi-faceted approach to the prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV including the role of other microbes (viruses, bacteria, etc.), behavioural and social interactions, epidemiological factors and co-morbidities associated with HIV transmission, including malignancies associated with other viral infections such as Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) and human papillomavirus (HPV).

Focus of this programme will be on Basic, exploratory/ developmental, and clinical research studies; infectious diseases and HIV/AIDS co-morbidities; behavioural and social sciences including social stigma; epidemiology (behavioural and population); alcohol abuse and alcoholism; drug use and abuse; prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission (MTCT); mobility and migration as drivers of the epidemic; and cancer as a co-morbidity of HIV infection and other STDs.

The programme is being initiated by the ICMR as part of the Indo-US Bilateral Collaborative Research Partnerships (CRP) on the Prevention of HIV/AIDS which is aimed to support innovative and basic research on strategies to prevent HIV infection and transmission that will advance the field of HIV/AIDS prevention through the collaborative efforts of Indian and US investigators and their institutions.

In this regard, India and the US had way back in June 2006 signed a joint statement for collaboration on prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV/AIDS to promote cooperative research and research training focused on HIV/AIDS. The joint statement was renewed in October 2011, for another five years.

The major aspects of HIV/AIDS prevention of this programme will include identification of behavioural, social, epidemiological and/or infectious disease relationships that represent barriers to, and/or opportunities for novel prevention/management strategies; conduct of exploratory/developmental research studies into the viral pathogenesis and immunology of HIV/AIDS that may lead to advances in diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics, and other intervention/prevention strategies; conduct of focused microbiological, epidemiological, translational and behavioural and social science interventions and testing that addresses the implementation and/or understanding of the impact of a prevention/management strategy; acquisition of knowledge that assists the operational aspects of developing and testing prevention/ intervention strategies for HIV/AIDS and/or interventions/treatments for associated co-morbidities; preclinical research to establish clear evidence of physiologically-relevant anti-HIV activity; and Research to develop approaches to measuring and improving acceptability of and adherence to prevention modalities.