CAPRISA Participates in DREAMS Workshop
Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim, Associate Scientific Director at CAPRISA, delivered a presentation titled: Why now? PreEPping girls for an HIV-free future, at the launch of the DREAMS project, a $210million partnership funded by the Nike Foundation, Gates Foundation and PEPFAR to prevent HIV infection in adolescent girls and young women ages 15-24 held in Johannesburg on January 26, 2015.
The objectives of the week long workshop included, to advance knowledge on HIV prevention through presentations from leading experts in the field, to set targets for incidence reduction in each DREAMS country, to develop country-specific strategic plans for reaching those targets, to coordinate with civil society, ministry of health officials, the private sector and key multilateral partners and to generate multi-stakeholder engagement in DREAMS planning. Ambassador Deborah Birx US Global AIDS Coordinator opened the meeting and underscored the importance of this key population and 'using data to effectively reach adolescent girls and young women'.
The majority of women living with HIV are from sub-Saharan Africa, and a disproportionate proportion of new HIV infections in the region are young women and adolescent girls in the 15-24 year age group making HIV prevention in this group an urgent priority for epidemic control explained Prof Abdool Karim.