"An HIV vaccine is our best long-term hope for controlling the global AIDS epidemic, but it has proven to be a tremendously difficult scientific challenge," said Jose Esparza, a scientist who advises the foundation on AIDS.

He said AIDS research requires the cooperation of scientists around the globe, with easier access to open data and technology.

"We have all been frustrated by the slow pace of progress in HIV vaccine development, yet breakthroughs are achievable if we aggressively pursue scientific leads and work together in new ways," Esparza said more than two decades after AIDS became a pandemic.

The quest for a cure is stymied by the remoteness of some clusters of scientists who cannot share their findings, said the foundation.

The goal is to make the work globally coordinated, said the foundation. Groups receiving funding must submit candidate vaccines for centralized testing and comparison.

The funds will be distributed to more than 165 researchers in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Cameroon, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Japan, Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Uganda, the United Kingdom, the United States and Zambia.

Some 42 million people are believed to be infected with the virus and three million die each year, with sub-Saharan Africa now the world's most affected region.

The foundation, with an endowment of more than 29 billion dollars, is headed by the Microsoft founder and his wife.

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