Facing Health Threats, S. Africa May Be on Verge of Medical Breakthroughs

South Africa has nearly the highest global burden of HIV and is buffeted by other serious health threats. Simultaneously, the country may be on the cusp of a few extraordinary advances to save people’s lives.

First, a group of researchers is launching trials of a promising vaccine combination they hope will trigger the body to create immunity against HIV. A vaccine would help eliminate the dependency of African countries on the Global North for antiretroviral drugs. The project was nearly scuttled by cuts in U.S. foreign aid.

Second, the primary treatment of preeclampsia, characterized by soaring blood pressure during and after pregnancy, is delivery. But this means children can be born dangerously premature. A team has promising early results on a drug they hope could become the first preeclampsia treatment and save thousands of lives globally.

Finally, most clinical trials and dosing regimens are based on non-African populations, but Africa is the most genetically diverse continent on the planet. That’s why scientists created a center in Cape Town to discover and develop drugs to fight malaria, tuberculosis, and antimicrobial resistance. The group is also starting an African liver database to determine dosing levels for Africans.

This reporting project covers laboratories and clinics at the edge of perhaps multiple medical breakthroughs, at the heart of which is Africans healing Africans in Africa.