Reducing HIV in young women — key to global epidemic control
Reducing the high rates of HIV infection in young women is key to the control of the global epidemic. This was the message from Professor Salim Abdool Karim at the inaugural annual general meeting (AGM) of the multi-country research programme, Tackling Infections to Benefit Africa (TIBA) held in May. The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) is one of the partners in TIBA.
The keynote address was entitled, ‘A research journey to unravel why young women have the highest HIV rates in South Africa’, at the meeting attended by leading scientists, donors and government representatives on 29 May. He cautioned that there is no cure or an effective vaccine and therefore there remains a major gap in HIV prevention technologies especially for women, particularly young and adolescent women, who are unable to negotiate the current HIV prevention options – condoms, circumcision and oral PrEP.
Photo: Professor Salim Abdool Karim delivers the keynote address at the inaugural annual general meeting of TIBA launched early this year, TIBA is an Africa-led multi-disciplinary research programme, which explores and draws lessons from ways different African health systems tackle infectious diseases.