HIV Prevention Research

At the Desmond Tutu TB Centre (DTTC), one of our focus areas is HIV Prevention research in adult populations. As part of research efforts, the DTTC has been working on several studies as part of the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN). The implementation of these trials requires close collaboration with a diverse range of local community and other stakeholders and robust institutional capacity across a broad range of competencies. The DTTC HIV prevention team are actively involved in national and international discussions regarding HIV prevention in high burden settings and we aim to continue to grow our impact in this area over the coming years. Most recently, the Centre has concluded the HPTN 071 study, The Population Effects of Antiretroviral Therapy to Reduce HIV Transmission (PopART): A cluster-randomized trial of the impact of a combination prevention package on population-level HIV incidence in Zambia and South Africa. The community randomised trial was one of the largest HIV studies ever completed. In 2018, the Centre also started with participant enrolment for the HPTN 084 (Life) study, a phase 3 double blind safety and efficacy study of long-acting injectable cabotegravir compared to daily oral TDF/FTC for pre-exposure prophylaxis in HIV-uninfected women.