With $28-million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Canadian government has announced it will create a program to find a cure for AIDS, reports CanWest News Service.

The government has pledged up to $111-million for the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative.

The program will support Canadian researchers and institutions, which will work with international affiliates via the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, a network of organizations around the world devoted to developing a vaccine to prevent HIV. The Canadian effort aims to move vaccines more quickly to clinical trials and will support a facility to manufacture potential vaccines.

The Gates Foundation awarded the biggest grant in 2006, according to the annual survey by The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

(A paid subscription is required to view the Chronicle article.)