The UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board’s visit to CAPRISA focuses on research for policy
Members of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB), including the outgoing and in-coming-Chair together with Gunilla Carlsson (the newly appointed Deputy Director of UNAIDS and UN Assistant Secretary-General), visited CAPRISA, which is a UNAIDS Collaborating Centre for Research and Policy, on 16th October as part of their visit to South Africa to gain insights and an understanding of the AIDS response in South Africa. The 24 person delegation was led by UNAIDS Regional and Country Directors, Drs Catherine Sozi and Mbulawa Mugabe.
Quarraisha Abdool Karim, CAPRISA’s Associate Scientific Director and UNAIDS Special Ambassador for Adolescents and HIV, provided the delegation with an overview of CAPRISA highlighting the impact CAPRISA’s research has on global and national policy and saving lives.
Her science update included an update of the evolving HIV epidemic in a hyper-endemic epidemic setting underscoring the magnitude of the epidemic in the region; the importance of reducing new infections in adolescent girls and young women; new data on understanding vulnerability of young women, planned studies to prevent HIV and the need for HIV to be integrated into health care delivery including the importance of integration of HI and TB services to reduce mortality rates. She cautioned that whilst significant gains have been achieved globally, there is a perception that AIDS is no longer a global priority, posing a threat to reverse the gains made to date.