For the 9th consecutive year, the University of Cape Town's Vaccines for Africa Initiative (VACFA) has successfully hosted the annual African Vaccinology Course at the Upper East Side Hotel, Woodstock, Cape Town. Under the leadership of Prof Gregory Hussey, Director of VACFA, and with generous funding from GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, Sanofi Pasteur and Pfizer, the course has become a popular attraction for researchers, medical practitioners and public health administrators wishing to gain detailed insight and knowledge about vaccinology and challenges in the uptake of vaccines on the continent.

A total of 59 participants from 19 different African countries participated. Since inception, the course has trained about 800 participants from all African countries, with the exception of Morocco.

The Vaccinology course is intended to benefit vaccinology programme managers, doctors involved in vaccination programs as well as basic scientists involved in vaccines research within the African continent. The aims of the 9th Annual Vaccinology Course were:

1. To provide participants with the necessary expertise that is critical to support national immunisation programmes
2. To build sustainable research capacity in vaccine development and to conduct high quality phase 1-lV vaccine trials in Africa.

The course was presented by experts in the field of vaccinology and immunology - from academia, industry and private practice. Participants were overwhelmingly positive in their feedback on the contents and structure of the training. VACFA is based in the Faculty of Health Sciences' Institute for Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IDM). VACFA's vision is An Africa free of vaccine-preventable diseases.