Undetectable HIV is Untransmittable

Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation (DTHF) strongly endorses the Prevention Access Campaign (PAC) core message: Undetectable HIV is Untransmittable HIV (U=U). Their message is condensed to the simple hashtag #UequalsU. An HIV-positive person who maintains an undetectable viral load with the aid of regular, successful treatment cannot transmit HIV sexually (1). Bruce Richman, a cofounder of…

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DTHF receives the Ubuntu Social Responsibility Award 2017

DTHF received the UBUNTU Award for Social Responsibility at a gala event in Cape Town on 17th February.   The evening honoured the legacy of Oliver Tambo and those South Africans who have followed in his footsteps. It was attended by President Jacob Zuma and many notable dignitaries.  Tracy-Ann Finnan (Senior Finance) and Riaan Beukes (Project…

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Zimele Project: Launch

Zimele Project: Launch This January, there was a buzz of excitement at Philippi Village as 120 new staff members arrived ready to make a difference in their community through the Zimele Project. To date, this will be the largest single project that the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation has ever taken on, and we are now excited…

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HIV Vaccine Trial to be launched in South Africa

HIV Vaccine Trial to be launched in South Africa “We’ve never treated our way out of an epidemic. There’s no doubt we have to have primary prevention alongside treatment in order to get HIV control, but we are not going to get HIV eradication without a vaccine. That is very clear.” Linda-Gail Bekker, Deputy Director of…

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9 Steps to an HIV Prevention Revolution in Resource-Limited Settings

9 Steps: HIV Prevention Revolution in Resource-Limited Settings It’s 3 decades into the war with HIV/AIDS and so far 78 million have been infected and 39 million people have died, most in an untimely way (1). Yet an important battle has been won: antiretroviral therapy (ART) brought life-saving treatment to those infected, in both the…

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International Girl-Child Day

International Girl-Child Day Data is the first step to solving a problem. It sets the scene, uncovers the discrepancies, and reveals clear gaps for focus. Conversely, when something is not counted it is easily ignored. The UN proposes that this is an underlying issue facing the 1.1 billion girls living today: they are not being…

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Obituary – Steve Lawn

Obituary – Steve Lawn It is with great sadness that we share the news with you that our friend and colleague, Professor Stephen Lawn, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the University of Cape Town, has died at age 50. Steve Lawn was very well known in South Africa and internationally…

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Tuberculosis in Cape Town

Cape Town alone has more TB each year than the US, Canada, UK and Germany put together. Professor Robin Wood, a leading University of Cape Town scientist, is in search of the clues as to why this is so, writes Business Day. As a schoolboy in Birmingham, Wood once had the task of opening and…

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South Africa: Virtually There, by Bill Gates

If you could shuffle all of the homes in the world like a deck of cards so that people in wealthy countries lived side by side with people from poor countries, it would transform the world’s fight against poverty, hunger, and disease. It would be impossible for people to look away, impossible for them not…

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AIDS conference 2016: Linda-Gail Bekker talks to The Conversation Africa

As the 21st International AIDS Conference wraps up in Durban, South Africa, Professor Linda-Gail Bekker, incoming International AIDS Society President, talks to The Conversation Africa health and medicine editor Candice Bailey about what was achieved and what still needs to be done. What are the three interventions or innovations that stand out at the conference…

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