On the same day that medical researchers at the University of Cape Town started clinical trials of a promising AIDS vaccine, the South African government said it will stop funding further research.

In a country with the highest infection rate in the world, researchers fear that removing key scientific funding could prevent a vaccine from ever being developed. “It’s incredibly important that we keep working,” said AIDS researcher Anna-Lise Williamson.

AIDS researchers in South Africa have had a particularly difficult time gaining government support. Government officials have for decades denied the extent of the AIDS epidemic and have made jarring unscientific claims about the disease and how it is transmitted. During the 1990s, then-Prime Minister Thabo Mbeki denied the link between HIV and AIDS, and health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang suggested using beets and lemons as a cure for the disease. In addition, South African officials have become more reluctant to fund expensive clinical tests after a vaccine tested there in 2007 ended up increasing its subjects’ infection risk.

Although some officials question whether South Africa should be focusing its resources on education and other prevention programs instead of higher level research, scientists believe that a vaccine may be the only way to resolve the growing epidemic. Despite massive international efforts to stop the spread of the disease, South Africa continues to be the world’s leader in AIDS infections. “We have got the biggest ARV (anti-retroviral) roll-out in the world and still hundreds of people are dying every day and getting infected everyday,” Williamson said.

Due in part to government denial, AIDS continues to be a leading killer in  South Africa. Last year, more than 5.2 million South Africans were infected with HIV, resulting in about 360,000 deaths. It is estimated that one-third of women between the ages 20 - 34 are infected with the virus.

The vaccines that are currently being tested have been designed to combat the strain of HIV most prevalent in southern Africa. Tests are being conducted on 36 volunteers in South Africa and 12 in the United States–who were asked to participate to deflect charges that the US was using African patients as guinea pigs. The study is being funded jointly by the U.S. government and the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease in what its director Dr. Anthony Fauci has called “the most important AIDS research partnership in the world.”

Last year, HIV vaccine funding declined globally for the first time since 2000, falling 10 percent from the previous year to $1.2 billion. The International AIDS Society has reported, however, that HIV infections have declined in recent years, helped in part by President George W. Bush’s AIDS initiative.

photo credit: daveblume’s Flickr photostream (creative commons)