FAMCRU News
?Maties Research participants travel to Munich for Symposium
Researchers from the Family Center for Research with UBUNTU (FAMCRU) recently travelled with two young research participants and now HIV advocates, to attend the Pediatric HIV Workshop and then the AIDS 2024 conference in Munich. The young girls have been part of CHER (Children with HIV Early Antiretroviral (CHER) Randomised Trial) since shortly after birth and have been followed up longitudinally at FAMCRU. CHER was an open-label randomised controlled trial of HIV-infected asymptomatic infants younger than 12 weeks and showed that early antiretroviral treatment saved lives. The two young ladies were invited to the Pediatric HIV Workshop to join a panel discussion on Towards HIV Cure and Control in Children and Adolescents Everywhere. Their lived experiences as research participants and young people living with HIV reminded scientists to be mindful of the person behind the data. Their shared experiences inspired and showed that a supportive research environment allows participants to prosper. As a result, these young girls were invited to join the Youth Panel to discuss important topics such as HIV transition from pediatric care to adult care, treatment interruption, and their hopes for finding a cure. From there they attended the AIDS 2024 conference and Juliana Marais was featured in photographer, Steven Doyle's Instagram page – a documentary on people living with HIV and they met the three people known to have been cured of HIV. Professor Mark Cotton has dedicated his life to HIV research, and is working with others towards finding a cure. His CHER babies have blossomed into young HIV advocates representing FAMCRU on the world stage as a research unit at Stellenbosch 肆客足球.?
?
