A new dawn for scientific research center
The PHRU recently celebrated the opening of its new doors at Aeroton, where it plans to continue its scientific research to improve lives through ground breaking research.
A new chapter awaits the Perinatal HIV Research Unit (PHRU) as it marks a turning point after a challenging year in its clinical research.
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The PHRU recently celebrated the opening of its new doors at Aeroton, where it plans to continue its scientific research to improve lives through ground breaking research.
The research clinic was located at Kliptown, Soweto before relocating their offices earlier in the year to the Chris Hani Baragwaneth Academic Hospital following on-going vandalism and theft to the centre which left it on a brink of collapse.
“We are excited to be able to continue our work from our new clinic and the opening of our new offices means being able to carry out our scientific mandate and contribute to the wellbeing of communities.
“We are hoping this new chapter in our story will be one that is life changing and a promising road ahead of us as we will embark where we had previously left off,” said Anusha Nana, PHRU KRC Project Director.
The move comes as the clinic prepares to embark on a new Prep trial which involves a long injectable into the travail and the aim is to see the effectiveness of the product in adolescent girls and young women.
“This is a new chapter for us in HIV Prevention work, in a population where there is a huge HIV/AIDS burden, the alternative for prep which is currently daily treatment and we have people who are fatigue from taking a daily tablet, so pursing this alternative Prep studies will hopefully one day have better solutions for participants and society at large.
“We are hoping to engage with the community and start building an interest for this alternative solution,” she added.
The director admits that while it is challenging that they are no longer located in the community, she hopes the new location will continue to be a beacon of hope in their agenda to contribute back into the community.
In 2020, the research centre faced a spike of vandalism and cable theft.
This was further heightened by the July unrest in 2021, where the infrastructure of the building was strapped to its bare minimum.
Loss of equipment and research made it difficult to operate and compromised the safety of its participants, staff and units.
“Our decision to leave Kliptown, was not by choice but rather circumstance.
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“We were forced to flee and seek refuge at our head offices at the Chris Hani Baragwaneth Academic Hospital.
“We relocated our clinic as an emergency measure within a week with no real plan of what to do next.
“We had no water, no electricity and no ablution facilities.
“Each day made it more unsafe with ballooning costs of private security and attacks left us with no choice,” said Nana.
