EAVI Kick-off Meeting brings project partners together in Innsbruck

From Monday to Wednesday, 29 June – 01 July, the EAVI project partners will meet at the Institute of Virology for the official Kick-off Meeting.

The meeting marks the start of the EAVI project (Accelerating vaccine development for neglected tropical diseases) brings together European and African partners with the aim of strengthening clinical research and accelerating the development and evaluation of vaccines against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in sub-Saharan Africa.

The project will focus initially on generating important clinical data on the safety and immunogenicity of a chikungunya vaccine in African populations, including people living with HIV. The clinical studies will be conducted in Kenya and Tanzania and will provide valuable evidence to support future vaccine implementation decisions.

Beyond chikungunya, EAVI will establish a framework for future NTD vaccine trials in Africa by developing research protocols, training materials, and strengthening collaboration between European and African institutions. The project also aims to engage communities and national stakeholders to better understand and address barriers to clinical research.

EAVI is funded by the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking under Horizon Europe and represents a strong European–African partnership to advance vaccine research and improve health outcomes in regions affected by neglected infectious diseases.

We look forward to a productive meeting and a successful start of this important collaboration.