WHO and partners launch online portal to advance STI vaccine development

The World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners yesterday launched the first online portal on vaccine development for Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) at the 23rd IUSTI World Congress. The portal, STI Watch, contains technically sound and updated information on the most common STIs and the vaccine development status for each, as per a statement by WHO.

STI Watch is a collaborative effort among WHO, US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC). WHO and NIAID, along with other key stakeholders, have developed a roadmap for STI vaccine development and introduction. The roadmap lays out next steps for accelerating STI vaccine development, including assessing the public health need and value of new vaccines; defining their preferred product characteristics; and outlining the pathway to developing, evaluating and licensing the vaccines, the statement noted.

This collaboration was extended to AVAC to create a web-based clearing house for STI vaccines in order to raise their profile globally. Currently, research to develop vaccines against Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) and HIV is advancing, but not complete, the statement concluded.