Malawian doctor McNeil Ngongondo wins paediatric HIV research grant

Malawian doctor, McNeil Ngongondo has won a grant to conduct Paediatric HIV research among six successful applicants from a list of applicants from 25 countries.

Communication from the International Aids Society (IAS) says the two will be honoured on Wednesday at the Durban international Convention centre in South Africa.

Ngongondo will evaluate the effect of HIV drugs components Tenofovir and Atanazavir in HIV exposed infants.

“Research of HIV in paediatric is still falling far short of what is needed to answer critically important questions about how to best care for infants, children and adolescents affected by the epidemic.

“The IAS CIPHER initiative is changing that. We are investing in cutting edge research, cultivating the next generation of paediatric HIV research scientists, helping to change policies in the HIV response and advocating to put infants, children and adolescents affected by HIV high on the global public health agenda,” the IAS Executive Director is quoted is in a press statement.

The grant totalling 1.2miilion dollars is the biggest in the history of CIPHER which runs the programme.

The other winners are from Nigeria, Cameroon, Thailand, South Africa and the United States.

Dozens of scientists have been making their presentations on the progress being made towards finding a cure and vaccine for HIV at the conference.

A large scale HIV vaccine clinical trial is also expected to roll out in November in South Africa with at least five thousand (5000) participants.

This research is driven by the Pox-Protein Public –Public Private Partnership (P5). The P5 aims to produce an HIV vaccine that could have a significant public health benefit in southern Africa and deepen scientist understanding of the immune responses associate with preventing HIV infection.

Malawi is one of the worst hit countries by the HIV/Aids epidemic with at least 12 percent of the population infected according to 2016 Ministry of Health figures.

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