HIV-prevention injection provides new hope for SA women, and the fiscus – Wits Prof Sinead Delany-Moretlwe

Women in South Africa bear a disproportionate burden of the HIV pandemic. According to UNAids figures, of the more than 7.7 million adults living with HIV in South Africa, 62.7% are women and new HIV infections among young women aged 15-24 were more than double than those among young men. It’s for this reason that a group of Southern African young women were chosen for a study, known as the HPTN084 trial, headed by a research professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, Dr Sinead Delany-Moretlwe, to trial an injection called cabotegravir that is manufactured by Viiv Healthcare. The jab administered every eight weeks was found to be more effective than a daily pill to prevent HIV infection. Dr Delany-Moretlwe told BizNews that this breakthrough was a very important additional HIV-prevention option for women, and it could potentially cut the cost of the HIV burden for the country. According to UNAids data from 2019, South Africa, the largest consumer of generic anti-retroviral drugs in the world, is spending $1.54 billion (R24 billion) annually to run its HIV-programmes.- Linda van Tilburg



Well, we're very excited about this result because I think it's a really good news story for women. What we were able to show, is that an injection every eight weeks is nine times better than a daily oral pill in preventing HIV infection in women. We think the reason for this is that the injections have overcome a lot of the barriers that women experience to taking a pill a day.

There's the obvious sort of habit issue, but in addition to that, I think women in particular experience a lot of social pressures. There have been lots of reports of women experiencing stigma because they're presumed to be HIV- positive and maybe people who make judgments about their sexual activity. I think they get pressure from partners who think they may be bei Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices