WHO network for HIV isolation and characterization

The Global Program on AIDS of the World Health Organization (WHO) established in 1992 the "WHO Network for HIV Isolation and Characterization", to promote the development of appropriate HIV vaccines for worldwide use, including in developing countries. The WHO Network has the following major objectives: (1) to standardize and validate different methodologies for HIV isolation and characterization, (2) to monitor HIV variability on a global basis, (3) to obtain detailed genetic and biological characterization of HIV strains, (3) to generate and distribute well-characterized vaccine-related reagents, and (4) to transfer appropriate technologies to, and strengthen the infrastructure of, laboratories at the WHO-sponsored HIV vaccine evaluation sites. A large international study conducted in the framework of the WHO Network demonstrated the feasibility and importance of effective collaboration between scientists from developed and developing countries, to address the complex scientific challenges posed by HIV variability in relation to the development of effective HIV-1 vaccines [10,50].