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Women in SA could have access to a three-monthly HIV prevention ring by 2026

Posted in: Access to Medicines, Focus, Healthcare system, HIV/AIDS, InFocus, Latest, Spotlight

A flexible silicone ring that slowly releases antiretrovirals is one of just two long-acting HIV prevention products registered for use in South Africa. Results from a new study might pave the way for a longer-acting version of the vaginal ring that provides three months of protection at a time, as opposed to one month with the current ring. Elri Voigt reports on these findings and looks at how the one-month ring has influenced HIV prevention choices in South Africa.

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“We were the first ones to do it”: Innovative SA study takes TB testing to people’s homes

Posted in: Access to Medicines, Focus, Healthcare system, InFocus, Latest, Spotlight, TB, TB

Most tuberculosis (TB) tests still require a trip to the clinic. Now, new technology has made it possible to test people at home. This could be a big deal for South Africa, where much TB goes undiagnosed. Tiyese Jeranji unpacks the findings and implications of a recent study into such TB home testing.

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Interview: From a pig farm in Zim to star HIV researcher- Prof LGB reflects on her remarkable journey

Posted in: HIV/AIDS, Latest

Inside Professor Linda-Gail Bekker’s office a bookshelf is stacked with titles on general medicine, HIV and tuberculosis. Against the bookshelf, a mannequin leans dressed in a white doctor’s coat, sparkling tiara and pink Venetian mask, with a stethoscope protruding from her pocket. Known to colleagues as LGB, Bekker is one of South Africa’s top HIV researchers. Biénne Huisman chatted to Bekker about her remarkable career, finding new ways to reach young people, her love of both art and science and the thinking behind the slogan “get ripped, get prepped”.

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HIV vaccine research set to change focus in wake of Mosaico disappointment

Posted in: COVID-19, HIV/AIDS, Latest

Top South African HIV clinicians are setting their sights on different approaches to finding an HIV vaccine after the “disappointing” news that the Mosaico trial was stopped early because the vaccine did not show any efficacy. The search for an HIV jab now seems set to pivot from vaccines that induce T-cell immunity to ones that induce B-cell immunity. Adele Baleta unpacks what that means and the reasoning behind it.

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Pilot projects set to inform rollout of HIV prevention shot

Posted in: Healthcare system, HIV/AIDS, Latest

South Africa is expected to begin piloting the HIV prevention injection early next year as one of several projects that experts hope will reveal the answers to some of the biggest questions about the future of the shot – who will deliver the injection, where, and how to sell people on the idea that just six shots a year could protect them from HIV. Laura Lopez Gonzalez reports.

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