UKZN granted R153m for HIV, TB research

The funds were made available by the UK-based Wellcome Trust and the UK Department of International Development.

Researcher at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Professor Thumbi Ndung’u has told Newswatch the money will be used for the establishment of the Sub-Saharan African Network for TB and HIV Research Excellence. 

Ndung'u says this is significant because most funding for research on diseases in sub-Saharan Africa is usually channelled to European and North American organisations. 

''Both HIV and TB are major public health problems in sub-Saharan Africa, so the goal of this grant is to help accelerate research that will lead to cure and to the development of the vaccine to against HIV but also against tuberculosis itself which is the major opportunistic infection that people with HIV get,'' he said.

(Photo: Khatija Nxedlana)