To Professor Salim Abdool Karim, excellence should be the only standard. In science, he says he is inspired by imaginative thinking such as that of American comic publisher Stan Lee, co-creator of Spider-Man. Biénne Huisman sat down with him in his office in a glass-encased building on the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s medical campus.
On June 5 2026, an HIV prevention injection will for the first time become available at some of South Africa’s public sector clinics. In this Spotlight special briefing, Marcus Low and Elri Voigt pull together all you need to know about this “breakthrough” jab.
New TB tests have massive potential for South Africa’s struggle to get to grips with the age-old disease. Making the most of these new tests will require both ambition and smart implementation, argue Gaurang Tanna and Dr Yogan Pillay.
A cutting-edge, South African-led HIV vaccine trial built on decades of research recently kicked off in Cape Town. Elri Voigt unpacks what exactly is being studied, and how the resilience, tenacity and urgency of a group of dedicated South African researchers made it possible.
The world desperately needs an effective TB vaccine to reduce the illness and death still being caused by the centuries’ old bacterium. Chris Bateman visited a study site in Paarl where a promising experimental TB vaccine is now being tested as part of a large multi-country clinical trial.
Though several South African companies are producing HIV and TB medicines, the active ingredients that go into these medicines are usually imported from India or China. Now, a local company is planning to break new ground by making the active ingredients for two important TB medicines in Pretoria. Catherine Tomlinson zooms in on the company’s efforts and outlines some of the obstacles to getting such local production off the ground.
