Sultanate of Oman hosted the 25th annual meeting of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) at the capital city of Muscat from 26 till 28th of October. The venue was one of the most scenic locations of Muscat, the Barr Al Jissa resort.
This year, epidemiologist Dr Quarraisha Abdool Karim was awarded the most prestigious TWAS-Lenovo Science Prize for her relentless work in the area of HIV/AIDS prevention. Her research work which has few parrallels in terms of the socio-medical strategies and human impact has helped set guidelines for patients infected with HIV and doctors treating them. It was in 1989 that Ms Karim joined Aids Research Program of South African Medical Research Council' after obtaining a post graduate degree in Public Health from Columbia University, USA. She soon realized that sociology is an integral part of epidemiology. She says "AIDS brought together two separate things for me; I saw the convergence between advocacy work and science ". The extensive surveys she conducted in sub-Saharan Africa brought to light not only the alarming statistics but also the plight of helpless and ignorant adolescent girls in a male dominated society. Public health data showed that in South Africa alone an estimated 6.1 million people suffer from HIV infection, more than any other nation in the world. Women who are younger than 24 years are at a greater risk than men in the same age group. Could there be a way to protect the women from HIV infection that didn't call for cooperation from their male partners? That is the question Karim and her team asked aloud.
The team took a relook at tenofovir an antiretroviral drug used in HIV treatment and developed it into a topical gel to be applied to genital areas. In a study spread over 3 years, Karim and her team demonstrated that application of 1% tenofovir gel reduced infection in women by ~40%. Follow up studies and mathematical modelling have indicated that tenofovir gel has the potential to prevent millions of new infections. Currently the gel is undergoing rigorous clinical trials. By the end of 2015 it would move into licensing, manufacturing and distribution stage.
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| Quarraisha Abdool Karim |
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| Tenofovir :courtsey Wikipedia |
Dr Karim is an associate professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University medical Center and associate director of CAPRISA ( short for Centre for the AIDS program Research in South Africa). The TWAS-Lenovo prize comes with a an award of 100,000 US$ provided by Lenovo.
Tailpiece:
TWAS delegates were pleasantly surprised to receive a small (4cm long) Omani Khanjar as memento . While fiddling with it, it suddenly unleashed a pendrive!
References:
- Qurraisha Abdool Karim wins TWAS-Lenovo Prize
- Globalization, Ethics, and AIDS Vaccines Salim S. Abdool Karim-Science 23 June 2000: 2129
- Simon V, Ho DD, Abdool Karim Q HIV/AIDS epidemiology, pathogenesis, prevention, and treatment Lancet. 368 489-504 2006
- Woodsong C, Abdool Karim Q A model to enhance informed consent: experiences from the HIV Prevention Trials Network American Journal of Public Health 95 412-419 2005
- Q.A Karim et al Effeciveness and Tenofovir Gel an antiretroviral microbicide for the prevention of HIV infection in Women Science 3 September 2010:1168-1174
