Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - August 4, 2008
Andrea Hart
South Africa's reputedly pinkest city was chosen for the trial.
The University of Cape Town's Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation wants to determine whether Truvada, a drug used in HIV treatment, can also be applied to HIV prevention.
"Cape Town is a pink city and we have a constitution that recognises different sexualities and doesn't criminalise people's orientations," said Linda-Gail Bekker, one of the co-ordinators of the foundation.
Half the 200 participants in the trials will be given Truvada; the others will receive a placebo.
The trial, which is sponsored by the National Institute of Health and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is part of an international study that has already begun in the US.
The study follows similar prevention-oriented trials in West Africa that involved testing microbiocides for their ability to reduce the mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
Though the HIV epidemic in Africa predominantly affects heterosexuals, the Cape Town study will target an especially vulnerable demographic group that has "fallen off the radar screen", Bekker said.
"We are targeting people who, by their behaviour, are putting themselves at increased risk of contracting HIV."
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