Mr. Speaker, AIDS is an epidemic that knows no borders and affects millions of people throughout the world.
Unfortunately, no fully effective weapons against this terrible scourge have yet been found.
The OPTIMA study, a three year international clinical trial program mobilizing researchers funded jointly by Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, will help us find responses to one difficult question.
Why do so-called drug cocktails halt the development of AIDS in some people and not in others?
The Canadian team is composed of Dr. William Cameron, chief researcher; Dr. Joël Singer, the trial statistician; and Aslam Anis, health economist.
I am proud to belong to a government that had the foresight to create an organization like the CIHR and to encourage international collaboration such as this.
Investing in research today stands to benefit all Canadians tomorrow.