HIV is known for its ability to outsmart our immune system’s normal defences. A small number of people living with HIV are however able to generate more effective immune responses to HIV. In this special briefing, Catherine Tomlinson zooms in on broadly neutralising antibodies, the secret sauce in these immune responses.
Eight million people living with HIV. Just over 6 million on treatment. Behind these big numbers lurk a universe of fascinating epidemiological dynamics. In this special briefing, Spotlight editor Marcus Low unpacks what we know about the state of HIV in South Africa.
Highly effective treatments for HIV have existed since the mid-1990s. But while these treatments keep people healthy, we do not yet have a safe and scalable way to completely rid the body of the virus. In this Spotlight special briefing, Elri Voigt takes stock of where we are in the decades-long search for an HIV cure.
In 2018, Cabinet adopted a new intellectual property policy for South Africa, but as yet the policy has not led to any change in the country’s patent laws. Amending these laws as soon as possible is critical to both the COVID-19 and HIV response, argues Umunyana Rugege.
How to fight COVID-19? Look to HIV, says UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima.
The so-called “London patient” is still HIV-free, 30 months after receiving a bone marrow transplant to treat blood cancer, according to a study published on Tuesday in the Lancet HIV journal.
Professor Francois Venter writes that it is strange to think of the progress we have made as a country since 2004, when the South African antiretroviral (ARV) programme rollout was started. A full version of the special edition of Spotlight will be released during the International AIDS Conference in Durban which starts on 17 July. This is an article which will be published in Spotlight.
