In his address to MRC award and grant winners at a prestigious ceremony in Cape Town, outgoing MRC Chairperson Professor Lizo Mazwai described the South African Medical Research Council (MRC) as 'richer, more focused, more efficient and better placed to deliver a healthy nation through research.'

There have been major successes in the fight agains the disease since it was first identified in 1983. Bianca Capazorio speaks to some young South Africans at the forefront of work in the field.

Leading scientists in HIV/AIDS research discussed the diversity of the HIV epidemic, new scientific evidence and the promising interventions on the horizon to tackle it.

Ahead of World AIDS Day 2013, leading HIV/AIDS researchers in Durban have urged society to focus on insights, innovation and integrity in the journey into an HIV-free future and to put people at the centre of health services.

By Inez Rossouw, 26 Nov 2013, Bloemfontein - Dolutegravir, a drug aimed against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), might not elicit any resistance to it. This was revealed at the Southern African HIV/TB drug resistance and monitoring workshop hosted by the Southern African Treatment and Resistance Network (SATuRN) at the Medical School of the University of the Free State.

The University of the Free State (UFS) can now collect immensely valuable data on drug resistance in HIV/Aids and TB with the new DNA sequencer that was launched recently at the International workshop on HIV/AIDS and TB drug resistance at the Bloemfontein Campus.

BLOEMFONTEIN, 21 November 2013. Today, a large intentional workshop on HIV & TB drug resistance starts, which will bring some of the top international researchers, clinicians and policy makers to the University of the Free State in order to discuss strategies to manage and prevent drug resistance in Africa.

A UKZN panel discussion on 26 November 2013: 'Bringing the 'I' into HIV - New approaches in developing person-centred interventions to fight the HIV epidemic' as part of World AIDS Day 2013 activities.

Radio interview by Sisanda Jonas at SAfm weekend pmlive show 3 Nov 2013

The MRC has established a new high-profile R190 million funding opportunity for Medical Schools and Universities to undertake 'Flagship Projects' aimed at addressing South Africa's key health problems. The winning projects, led by some of South Africa's most accomplished scientists, were announced at a media briefing at the MRC in Cape Town on Wednesday evening.

Professor Salim Abdool Karim and Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, awarded a R16.5 million grant to fight HIV drug resistance and transmission in rural KwaZulu-Natal.

Professor Frank Tanser and Professor Tulio de Oliveira from UKZN's Africa Centre for health and Population studies were recently awarded a large grant to fight HIV drug resistance and transmission in rural KwaZulu-Natal. The grant, funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) Flagship Projects is part of the MRC's strategy to sustain vibrant medical research in South Africa.

'Intensive', 'Comprehensive', 'Fulfilling' and 'Exciting' were just some of the words used by students to describe the first Bioinformatics course hosted by the KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for TB and HIV (K-RITH) in partnership with the US-based Broad Institute and the NIH recently.

The concept behind this newsletter is that anyone with 15 minutes to spare can learn about the work of SATuRN. In this third issue of 2013 our newsletter we focus on our digital videos activities. We have also included interesting news, blogs, reports, tweets, publications and training information produced by our network.

Deenan Pillay, Professor of Virology at UCL (University College London), is today named as the new Director of the Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies, one of the Wellcome Trust's major overseas programmes.

The concept behind this newsletter is that anyone with 15 minutes to spare can learn about the work of SATuRN. The newsletter is presented as a PDF document with links to complete articles at the bioafrica.net website.

by Sigaloff & Hamers, The Southern African Journal of HIV Medicine, Book Review on the HIV & TB Drug Resistance & Clinical Management Case Book by Rossouw, Lessells and de Oliveira

This is the second workshop of the bioinformatics in the tropics series, which will be presented by the Wellcome Trust Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies at K-RITH at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa, 23 to 27 September 2013. The bioinformatics in the tropics series is part of a south to south capacity building programme to develop the next generation of bioinformaticians in Africa and Latin America.

This is the first workshop of the bioinformatics in the tropics series, which will be presented at the Oswaldo Moniz Research Center (CPqGM), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, 22 to 26 July 2013.

This is a series of four workshops, which will be presented in Brazil (2013 & 2014), South Africa (2013) and Uganda (2014) as part of a south to south capacity building programme to develop the next generation of bioinformaticians in Africa and Latin America.

We are pleased to announce that we are presenting at the Sixth Infectious Disease Genomics and Global Health conference, Cambridge, U.K, 16-18 October 2013. The focus of this meeting is the application of genomic technologies to the problems of infectious disease in a global health context.

Drug resistance poses significant potential problems in the fight against HIV and TB, but little is known about how best to tackle it. Dr Tulio de Oliveira heads a network that aims to fill this knowledge gap.

By Jonathan Davis, 15 April 2013 - Researchers from the Africa Centre for Health and Population Research near Mtubatuba have published a important book to help rural doctors, nurses and pharmacists working on the frontline of the country's interlinked HIV and tuberculosis (TB) pandemics manage increasing levels of resistance to the drugs needed to fight the diseases.

The concept behind this newsletter is that anyone with 15 minutes to spare can learn about the work of SATuRN. The newsletter is presented as a PDF document with links to complete articles at the bioafrica.net website.

The 17th Annual Rural Health Conference will be held in St. Lucia, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, from 8 to 10 August 2013. SATuRN will have a session (approximately 2-3 hours) in the conference and will distribute the HIV & TB Drug Resistance and Clinical Management Case Book.

Pretoria News - 19 March 2013, DOCTORS from the University of Pretoria (UP) and University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) have stepped up to the challenge of providing a clinical management casebook for health care workers treating patients with HIV and TB drug resistance.

By Sanku Tsunke, Pretoria, 19 March 2013. Drug resistance is one of the main challenges confronting HIV and TB programmes in Africa. Facing these challenges requires an understanding of how drug resistance develops, as well as up-to-date knowledge of how to diagnose and manage drug resistance in HIV and TB patients.

HIV and TB: Drug Resistance and Clinical Management Case Book - a book co-authored by two academics from the Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies - has been presented to frontline health workers at a workshop in northern KwaZulu-Natal.

Weerstand teen medikasie is een van die belangrikste struikelblokke wat programme om MIV en tuberkulose in Afrika te bestry te bowe moet kom. Om hierdie uitdagings die hoof te bied, word 'n begrip vereis van hoe weerstand teen die middels tot stand kom, sowel as vertroudheid met die jongste metodes om weerstand teen die medikasie in MIV- en tuberkulosepasiente te diagnoseer en bestuur.

UKZN's Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies, based in the College of health Sciences, has once again made huge strides in HIV management. Recently, the Centre's, Dr Richard Lessells and Dr Tulio de Oliveira together with the University of Pretoria's, Dr. Theresa Rossouw; launched a book entitled, 'HIV and TB: Drug Resistance and Clinical Management Case Book'.