September HIV/AIDS Public Health Journal Club

The September Journal Club featured presentations by two researchers from the Department of Virology at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine: Dr Chris Jack, who spoke on the co-epidemics of HIV and TB, and Dr Raveen Parboosing, who presented on "HIV and HCV: Epidemiological Synergy?

MRC KZN HIV/AIDS Forum - October 2002

At the first MRC KZN HIV/AIDS Forum held in association with HIVAN on 15 October 2002, HIVAN Fellow, Emeritus Professor Jack Caldwell of the Australian National University, presented his paper entitled "The African AIDS Epidemic - Reflections on a Research Programme".

October HIV/AIDS Public Health Journal Club

October's inter-departmental HIV/AIDS Public Health Journal Club was addressed by Drs Pravi Moodley and Raveen Parboosing, both of the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine's Department of Virology. Dr Moodley's presentation was entitled "Structured Therapy Interruption (STI) in HIV Treatment" and Dr Parboosing's covered "HIV and Herpes Simplex".

MRC AIDS FORUM - CINDI Network Presentatation

The guest Speaker at the MRC's March 2002 AIDS Forum was Yvonne Spain, Co-ordinator of the CINDI Network. Formed in 1996, Children in Distress (CINDI) is a network of 68 organisations in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands concerned about the impact of HIV/AIDS on children in the region, and seeking to respond effectively to the growing numbers of children affected by HIV/AIDS in Pietermaritzburg and its surrounds.

Women Empowerment: Africa's AIDS Vaccine?

With 55% of those who are HIV-positive in sub-Saharan Africa being women, all the funding, treatment, information, care and support interventions imaginable will be of little effect in reversing the spread of HIV infection and resultant disease implications, unless women are empowered with equal status, both socially and economically. This argument is not new, but Samantha Willan's seminar presentation held on 18 October 2002, hosted by the Gender Studies Department at the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Durban campus, put the statistics, scenarios and strategy recommendations into clear and compelling perspective.

Tufte Seminar: HIV/AIDS and the Challenges of Communication

Because every individual and organisation has a different and equally valid perspective on the HIV/AIDS epidemic - and there is no aspect of life that HIV/AIDS does not affect in some way - participatory approaches are needed in order to find viable solutions for prevention education strategies.

SCIENCE AND SPIRIT: Uniting in the struggle against HIV/AIDS

The first of a series of seminars convened to forge firm links between KwaZulu-Natal's religious leaders and HIV/AIDS medical researchers in response to the epidemic was held at Durban's Jewish Club this week. Co-hosted by HIVAN (Centre for HIV/AIDS Networking) from Natal University and the Interfaith AIDS Forum of the World Council of Religion and Peace (WCRP), the seminar focused discussion on the ethics of AIDS vaccine trials and prevention of mother-to-child-transmission of HIV.

November HIV/AIDS Public Health Journal Club

The theme of the November Journal Club meeting at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine focused on "Research Ethics", featuring presenters Dr Ames Dhai (of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Chair of the Bio-ethics Reference Group), and Dr Rob Pawinski (of Department of Community Health and the Enhancing Care Initiative).

December 2002 HIV/AIDS Public Health Journal Club

The last Journal Club meeting of the year featured Andy Gray and Dr Donnie Mcgrath from the Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine in Durban. Their presentations focused on recent clinical and logistical reviews of "Making ARVs available in resource-poor settings".

February 2003 Public Health Journal Club

The February 2003 presentation was given by social scientist and epidemiologist Professor (Emerita) Zena Stein from Columbia University and was entitled "The History of HIV/AIDS".