UCT Sustainability and the SDGs 2022 - Magazine - Page 13
impact, HIV remains among the top 昀椀ve causes of mortality in
Research and Innovation
Africa, with an estimated 460 000 deaths annually. The high
Large scale HIV trial to tackle high mortality rate
in Africa
The introduction of anti-retroviral treatment (ART) for HIV
infections in Africa has reduced the mortality rate from HIV by
about 50% on the continent. Despite this incredible positive
mortality is due to the number of people who only access
treatment when the virus has reached an advanced stage,
or whose treatment regimen is interrupted. The Reducing
Mortality in Adults with Advanced HIV Disease (REVIVE)
trial, led by UCT and the Population Health Research Institute
(PHRI) in Canada, is a large randomised controlled trial aimed
at testing whether a cost-effective antibiotic intervention can
Family Health Day 2024 in numbers
increase survival in patients with advanced HIV.
The REVIVE trial seeks to reduce death in patients with
advanced HIV by pre-emptively treating them for serious
Doctors and
medical students
saw an estimated
52
women
120
patients
professionals committed to making quality healthcare
accessible to communities in Cape Town that are facing
children
economic hardships. They operate a range of initiatives
and programmes including mobile clinics which offer free
SHAWCO’s health and
rehabilitation team cared for the
following number of patients:
health promotion and maternal and child health support.
SHAWCO hosts annual Family Health Days in collaboration
with Rotary Hout Bay, striving to improve healthcare access
to communities of Imizamo Yethu and Hangberg, who live in
extreme poverty. In 2024, this day was hosted at the Hangberg
25
Audiology
5
Speeach therapy
Department of Health TB/HIV carers and Vida E Caffe.
26 - Sustainability and the SDGs 2024
20 Physiotherapy
13 Occupational
therapy
A typical proton therapy treatment room.Cyklotron,
CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikimedia Commons.
UCT Proton Therapy Initiative launched
What makes the REVIVE trial
signi昀椀cant is the size of it. With
8 000 participants across
14 African countries, we will be able
to de昀椀nitively answer the question
of whether the provision
of the antibiotic can reduce
mortality rates.
– Associate Professor Sean
Sentinel Primary School in Hout Bay and was held in collaboration
with the University of the Western Cape’s Dentistry Department,
azithromycin.
46
15 women received pap smears
and referral to Groote Schuur
colposcopy clinic when indicated.
healthcare services, including general medical consultations,
bacterial infections with a broad-spectrum antibiotic called
Wasserman, scienti昀椀c lead of REVIVE,
based at the Division of Infectious
Diseases and HIV Medicine in the
Department of Medicine.
In 2024 UCT established the 昀椀rst proton therapy centre on
the continent to provide world-class treatment for children
with cancer and contribute to ground-breaking research in
radiation oncology.
Proton therapy is a highly advanced form of radiation
therapy that uses a beam of energetic protons to precisely
target tumours while minimising damage to surrounding
healthy tissue. This approach is particularly effective for
paediatric cancer patients, signi昀椀cantly reducing long-term
side effects and the risk of secondary malignancies.
Currently, all 136 operational proton therapy centres
worldwide are in the northern hemisphere, with only two
under construction in the southern hemisphere; in Argentina and
Australia. The planned centre in Cape Town will be the 昀椀rst of its
kind in sub-Saharan Africa and will serve as a vital resource for
both treatment and research on the continent.
Sustainability and the SDGs 2024 – 27
