"It is very important that there is a respectful relationship between government and scientists. Government needs a more structured relationship with scientists," Hogan told the scientific advisory board of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in SA (Caprisa) yesterday.

"The National Health Act makes provision for a consultative forum. Usually, I am allergic to consultative forums as they can meet endlessly but it could be useful to have such a forum that meets twice a year," she told the meeting after scientists asked how the two groups, at loggerheads during the previous health minister's reign, could work together more effectively.

However, Hogan warned that policy making was "messy" and appealed to scientists to be aware of financial constraints when making recommendations to government.

"We are going into an economic recession where there will be very few funds for anything new. We desperately need input but people need to keep in mind resource constraints," said Hogan.

"While some researchers say that our antiretroviral treatment programme is sub-optimal because we should be starting people on treatment when their CD4 count is 350 not 200, this has enabled us to put almost 700,000 people on treatment in five years."

Caprisa is one of the country's foremost research institutes and comprises of scientists from the Universities of KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Town, the Western Cape and Columbia (New York) and the National Institute of Communicable Diseases.

For the first time, Caprisa gave special awards to three scientists for their outstanding contributions to HIV/AIDS research in the country.

Professor Bruce Walker, Director of Harvard University Centre for AIDS , was recognised for his "exceptional contribution to building research capacity and infrastructure in South Africa".

Walker, one of the world's leading HIV immunologists, has assisted to raise millions of dollars to build HIV and TB research facilities at the University of KZN. He has also published groundbreaking research into the way that human immune systems respond to HIV infection, and is currently studying a small group of people who are HIV positive but do not progress to AIDS to understand how their immune systems cope with the virus.
 
Professor Hoosen Coovadia, shunned by the Mbeki government for his orthodox position on AIDS despite having been an anti-apartheid leader, was recognised as "a living legend in AIDS research in South Africa".

Professor Rod Hoff, executive director of the Regional Emerging Diseases Intervention in Singapore, was also honoured for his role in "raising the standard of clinical research in South Africa". Hoff opened the door to local researchers to become part of international HIV prevention efforts for the first time ever while working at the National Institutes of Health in the USA. - Health-e News Service.