The term ‘MSM’ allows public health interventions to gloss over the social, political and cultural complexities of identity. But it’s not without its limitations.
The spread of misinformation in many pandemics, including the smallpox and 1918 influenza outbreaks, have undermined efforts to contain infections and prevent deaths.
Having survived the HIV/AIDS pandemic, gay communities in the US were well equipped to get residents health and social services early in the pandemic, when the government’s COVID-19 response lagged.
One of the main challenges remains that diagnostics and drugs for people suffering from advanced HIV aren’t readily available. This group of people is vulnerable to deadly opportunistic infections.
HIV self-testing is a potential strategy to overcome access to testing. However, there are emerging concerns on the lack of counselling, possible user error and accuracy of the kits.
South Africa’s data rollout of its pre-exposure prophylaxis shows that there is a relatively slow, but increasing, uptake. However, more needs to be done to target young women.
South Africa has made tremendous progress towards meeting the 90-90-90 targets but there are some challenges preventing it from reaching the goals set by UNAIDS.
A South African child, who has been in HIV remission for nearly nine years, could help researchers understand how to make remission possible for millions of other HIV positive people.
Climate change imperils food supply in many parts of the world, including South Africa, which has shown major gains in treating HIV/AIDS. Climate change could mean even less food – and more disease.
After nearly two decades of legal battles and negotiations, South Africa is moving to cut the cost of medicines with policies to increase imports and local production of generic drugs.
Medical Scientist at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases; Research Associate at CAPRISA; Research Professor in the School of Pathology, University of the Witwatersrand
Research Professor and DST/NRF SARChI Chair of Virus-Host Dynamics, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, CAPRISA Research Associate, University of the Witwatersrand
Associate Professor and Course Leader: Post Graduate Programmes in Clinical Pharmacy in the Department of Pharmacy, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University