The University of Natal and Harvard University will be able to collaborate in Aids research thanks to two grants totalling about R38-million ($3,75-million) from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation — an American charity established in 1996 by the estate of the late Doris Duke — said in a media statement received in Johannesburg on Wednesday that the grants would be channelled via the Massachusetts General Hospital.
The first grant of $1,5-million would enable the University of Natal’s Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine to build a new research facility, the first of its kind in the province.
The second grant of $2,25-million over four years would be used for an HIV parthenogenesis programme that will enhance research, training and collaborative efforts between Harvard researchers and the University of Natal.
This bi-national programme would also allow researchers to better understand the evolution of the HI virus in sub-Saharan Africa, and the immune responses of South Africans.
”Expanding clinical research capacity in countries most severely affected by the Aids epidemic is crucial. We hope these grants will spur additional investment in the public health infrastructure of Southern Africa and other parts of the world,” said Joan E. Spero, president of the Duke Foundation.
The acting vice-chancellor of the University of Natal, David Maughan-Brown, said: ”Through the new medical research institute, the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine plans to increase the efficacy with which it meets the pressing health challenges of our time, particularly those presented by the current HIV/Aids epidemic”. – Sapa