UKZN secures R1.6bn for HIV, TB research
The Africa Health Research Institute at the University of KwaZulu-Natal has secured R1.6 billion in funding to help combat high-risk diseases in South Africa.
The British funding agency, the Wellcome Trust, awarded the funds.
The Research Institute’s Executive Director Willem Hanekom says it will be used for scientific research over the next seven years.
Hanekom says the institute will use the funds to focus on solutions to the HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis pandemics, especially in rural areas.
"In seven years, we will know how best to prevent HIV, and we will have rolled out and translated into policy and practice by engaging with the health authority and make sure that this gets rolled out.
"We will also know how to cure HIV. We will know whether the new vaccines can prevent it and, hopefully, if it does prevent TB."
