03.10.2016
HEARD’s Scholarship Programme aims to emphasise the mastery of quantitative and qualitative methods for understanding policy problems and for devising, evaluating and/or implementing policy solutions. The aim of providing PhD scholarships is to produce expertly qualified graduates to advise or to be part of influential policy making organisations in Africa.
Under the supervision of Professor Nana Poku and with the generous support of Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, HEARD is offering up to five PhD Research Scholarships (full time) in any o...
26.09.2016
Press Release | 25 November 2016
Durban, South Africa - The Health Economics and HIV and AIDS Research Division (HEARD) has been tasked with the duty of linking policy and programming through research for at risk populations in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. Key populations include members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTI) community and other at risk youth.
Young key populations in Southern Africa face significant barriers to accessing HIV and sexual health rights (SRH) services. Many of these ba...
22.08.2016
Frank Tanser an infectious disease epidemiologist with specialist expertise in geographical information systems technology, shares results from a population-based cohort in rural KZN, on the application of geospatial analyses to reveal targets for intervention.
About the speaker: Frank Tanser an infectious disease epidemiologist with specialist expertise in geographical information systems (GIS) technology. He is Professor of Epidemiology in the College of Health Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and is an Honorary Professor of University College Lon...
19.08.2016
[Original post on Results for Development ]
Last month’s International AIDS Economics Network (IAEN) Preconference in Durban (July 15-16, 2016) demonstrated the strong political will to prioritize financing and harness economics to sustain the global HIV response and end AIDS.
What a long way we have come since we first met in Durban 16 years ago. With high-level participation by ministers of health from Lesotho, Namibia, Botswana, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, along with the heads of UNAIDS and PEPFAR and experts from the CDC and the World Bank, this gathering demon...
12.08.2016
A pilot study conducted by HEARD researchers on the hidden cost of disability in South Africa has been named in UNICEF’S Best Research report for 2016. UNICEF, or the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund is a United Nations programme which provides humanitarian assistance and development to mothers and children in the developing world. HEARD in partnership with the South African Department of Social Development, the National Development Agency, the UN Partnership to Promote the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the South African Social Securit...
12.07.2016
A special edition of the African Journal of AIDS Research was successfully launched at the 21st International AIDS Conference by HEARD and Sida.
The issue, 'Fast tracking HIV prevention: scientific advances and implementation challenges', includes contributions by specialists on how the HIV prevention response in the East and Southern African region should be shaped going forward and translates recent development in the HIV/AIDS arena into guiding action that will advance prevention in the new development framework.
The special issue is available freely online...
10.06.2016
In the era of Sustainable Development Goals, the importance of linking sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) with HIV is rightly recognised.
In Africa, most HIV infections are sexually transmitted or are associated with pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding; moreover, sexual and reproductive ill-health and HIV also share root causes, including poverty, gender inequality, and social marginalisation of vulnerable groups. Success in reversing these trends will require a far stronger focus in national level research on underlying drivers of discriminat...
17.05.2016
The case of voluntary male medical circumcision roll out in South Africa
A promising HIV prevention strategy aimed specifically at young men is voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC), as men who have been medically circumcised are 60% less likely to contract HIV through male to female vaginal sex. The World Health Organization and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS have recommended that 80% of men, aged 15 to 49 years old undergo circumcision by the end of 2016. Should these targets be met, the VMMC intervention should avert more than 1 million new...
05.05.2016
HEARD recently hosted a unique meeting of African ministers of Health at the Ditchley Foundation, Oxford, in the UK. Also in attendance were selected Directors of National AIDS Commissions, UNAIDS officials, the World Bank, United Nations Development Programme, Swedish International Development Cooperation and other concerned organisations to consider the future of AIDS financing. The meeting was organised by Professor Nana K. Poku, Health Economics Research Chair at the UKZN. The discussions turned on the call by UNAIDS for greatly increased funding in order t...
28.04.2016
HEARD's gender equality and health expert Andrew Gibbs and Nwabisa Jama Shai from the gender and health unit of the South African Medical Research Council on strengthening government, civil society and academic relationships for evidenced-based policy and programming to prevent VAWG.
Evidence-based interventions to prevent violence against women and girls (VAWG) cannot shape government or civil society policy and programming unless academics engage both sectors and are receptive to understanding the challenges they face. Such engagements need to be on-going and...
