Apply for the Adolescent Health Training Program

The Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation invites staff of governmental & non-governmental organizations working at national, provincial & district levels to the Adolescent & Youth Health Policy Short-Course. The short course for health training takes place from the 11-15 September 2017 at The President Hotel in Cape Town, South Africa. The short-course will involve a five-day residential…

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Community Sandwiches For Mandela Day

“It is in your hands to make of the world a better place.” This quote by Nelson Mandela encapsulates the feeling of Mandela Day. Commemorating his birthday, everyone is encouraged to celebrate by taking some action against poverty and serving the public for 67 minutes in some way. The Desmond Tutu HIV foundation took this…

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Second Quarter Newsletter

IAVI #YOUTHTALK Workshop 9th/10th May 2017 For the second year, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) partnered with us to host an exciting and informative research workshop at the River Club Conference Centre. We were delighted to welcome IAVI representatives from Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda and many other local organisations. Research has shown that unless new HIV infections among…

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Prudence Mabele: A Tribute

Prudence Mabele: Tribute We have lost a champion. Prudence Mabele will always be remembered for being the first black woman to openly state she is living with HIV. She became a courageous activist and was a founder member of the Treatment Action Campaign when the government of the day refused to allow the import of…

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PEPFAR: Oh what good you have done!

In 1982, the first case of HIV was reported in South Africa. Thereafter the unerring march of AIDS and death ravaged our communities, filled our hospital beds and cemeteries and rendered families bereft of young breadwinners, parents and children. Anti-HIV treatment, known as antiretroviral therapy was the miraculous epidemic game changer – but it was…

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Heart disease and living with HIV

HIV is no longer the death sentence it once was: antiretroviral therapy (ARTs) have become so sophisticated that HIV-infected people have a normal life expectancy. However, now that HIV is a manageable, chronic disease, there is a shift in the focus of HIV research.  Jason Baker, an associate professor of medicine at the University of…

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How can Circumcision Prevent HIV?

Medical Male Circumcision (MMC) is currently recommended for men living in areas where HIV rates are high and prevention tools are scarce. Some men, understandably, are unwilling to undergo MMC. Nyaradzo Chigorimbo-Tsikiwa, with the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre and the Division of Immunology, is researching the cellular and molecular composition of the foreskin. The goal…

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Healthcare Providers Respond to Latest HIV Prevention Research

New HIV prevention technologies are researched all the time at the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation. Often, scientists are concerned with how the people using these products will respond to them. But, equally important, is the response from the healthcare workers prescribing them. Robina Momanyi, an IAVI fellow visiting the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation from Kenya, enlightened…

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Closing in on Airborne TB

We were very fortunate to have Professor Robin Wood and Dr Keren Middelkoop, both from the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation (DTHF), update us on the tuberculosis (TB) aerobiology project. The project aims to characterise how airborne TB infects people in different spaces. South Africa is one of the six countries globally with the highest rates…

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Medical Male Circumcision Uptake to Prevent HIV

The last research meeting of April was on the subject of medical male circumcision (MMC), hosted by Nathan Beijneveld. He presented research of the acceptability and uptake of MMC in two adolescent populations in South Africa. This is a study with MACHO (Males Actively Choosing Healthy Options). The study investigated the uptake and acceptability of MMC…

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