Cape Town study brings hope to newborns left behind in HIV treatment advances

Research led by Professor Adrie Bekker is paving the way for an important HIV medicine to be made available to neonates in a way that is both safe and much more convenient than previous options. Biénne Huisman met with the passionate clinician-scientist at her office in Cape Town.

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Fears grow for R800 million cut to US funding of medical research in SA

Medical researchers in South Africa are in limbo as they wait to hear whether over R800 million in research grants from the United States National Institutes of Health will be terminated. South Africa’s top universities, which receive the bulk of the funding, will be particularly hard hit if the cuts materialise. Catherine Tomlinson reports.

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

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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