R40m funding a boost for HIV/ AIDS research in KZN
A UKZN professor says the R40-million funding he and a colleague at Harvard University received recently will assist them in their studies into HIV treatment and prevention.
College of Health Sciences' Frank Tanser says they're hoping to conduct more research into healthcare access for men following their studies into the life expectancy of HIV-infected people in rural KZN.
He says they're concerned about the high number of new infections in young women as well as the high number of men dying from HIV-related illnesses.
Tanser says through the funds from the US National Institute of Health they'll be able to offer cash incentives to men for testing and treatment.
"And the long baseline of measurements we've taken at Africa Centre over the past 15 years at our rural site means we can then measure the impact of this kind of strategy on both male rate of mortality the level of new infections in young women into the future to see whether it has been effective or not.
"We will be kicking off in early 2017 with results available by the end of 2020," he said.
(File photo: Getty Images)