SA Aids scientists get government boost

Nine groups of South African AIDS researchers will benefit from the Department of Science and Technology’s new research platform launched today.

South African HIV/AIDS Research and Innovation Platform (SHARP) will provide financial support to South African researchers as they explore "every possible avenue to beat the virus".

The department has allocated R45 million to SHARP for the next three years.

Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, Derek Hanekom said that there was an "opportunity to leverage finances and mobilise more funds" should the projects deliver on their objectives.

Naledi Pandor, Minister of Science and Technology said that research must not only be supported, but it must deliver results which will impact all South Africans.

She added that South Africa bears a "massive burden [of responsibility]" in the fight against Aids. Twenty-two million of the 33 million people who have Aids live in sub-Saharan Africa, according to results released in 2007.

Pandor said that SHARP had been established to "give opportunities to young researchers who might not yet be established in the field, but who have bright ideas that deserve support".

"Development of an effective vaccine might take many more years… in the meantime we must look at every possible avenue to deal with HIV Aids" said Pandor.

One project, lead by Shayne Loubser of Troy Technologies will help test anti-retroviral (ARV) drug resistance. Loubser said that the testing method is more accurate and cheaper than DNA sequencing which is currently the only method available at the moment. The research will validate the testing and help doctors prescribe the most optimal ARV treatment for each patient.

Another research project, lead by Doctor Zinhle Makatini, from the University of Limpopo will test drug resistant mutations.

Researchers from the University of Cape Town will do tests on a women who remain HIV negative because of cells they have which are immune to acquiring the infection.