NRF Science for Society Lecture: World AIDS Day 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has added a new dimension of risk and urgency to a world already battling HIV/AIDS. The interplay between the two pandemics has created new challenges and has raised new questions, forcing scientists and society at large to navigate the intersection of the two pandemics.
On 01 December 2021, the National Research Foundation (NRF), in partnership with the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in HIV Prevention, presented a special virtual Science for Society World AIDS Day lecture themed “HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 – Navigating the intersect of the two pandemics.
The lecture and panel discussion explored, among others:
• Ongoing HIV/AIDS research
• HIV/AIDS vaccine research and lessons learned from COVID-19 vaccine development
• The interplay between HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 and its impact on communities
• The inequities that emerge as a result of pandemics.
The lecture was hosted by Joan van Dyk, Senior Health Journalist: Bhekisisa, and included speakers such as Prof Fulufhelo Nelwamondo, CEO of the NRF; Prof Salim Abdool Karim, Director of CAPRISA and the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in HIV Prevention; Mark Heywood, Editor of Maverick Citizen and Human Rights Activist; and Patrick Mdletshe, Head of CAPRISA Community Programmes and National Deputy Chairperson of the Treatment Action Campaign.
