The European research effort for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

The global emergency caused by HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis requires for new approaches and actions to confront these three major poverty-related diseases. In response to this emergency, the European Commission provides a broad comprehensive approach in a wide range of policy areas, including trade, development and research. For research, the overall strategy is to develop new drugs, vaccines or other effective interventions by two main mechanisms: (i) support of research projects for the development of new promising candidates through pre-clinical and early human testing and (ii) establishment of a programme to support phases II and III clinical trials in Africa. The Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) (2002–2006) allocates a total of 400 million € to research on HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis with about 200 million for each of the two interlinked components.