Wits researchers announce "breakthrough" HIV prevention treatment

Wits researchers announce “breakthrough” HIV prevention treatment

Published on

11 November 2020

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A new injection to prevent HIV/Aids may be available to women within the next 2 years.

Researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand says the medical break-through in the prevention of the virus, involves medication that’s injected every 8 weeks and is almost 90% more effective in preventing infection among women than existing oral drugs taken daily.

The findings were made in a study conducted over a period of years among more than 3 000 women in Southern Africa.

Head of research at the Wits Institute for Reproductive Health and HIV, Sinead Delany-Moretlwe says the new drug is called cabotegravir.

Liesl Smit

Liesl is the Smile 90.4FM News Manager. She has been at Smile since 2016, with nearly 20 years experience in the radio industry, including reading news, field reporting and producing. In 2008 she won the Vodacom Journalist of the Year Award, Western Cape region. liesl@smile904.fm