For STRIVE's official launch, Professor Helen Rees of WRHI engaged in chat-show style with Professor Shalini Bharat (Tata Institute of Social Sciences), Busani Ngcaweni (Office of the Deputy President, South Africa) and Dr Marijke Wijnroks (Netherlands Ambassador for SRHR and HIV/AIDS).
Their discussion was headlined: "Luxury or Necessity: Structural factors in a biomedical era" but, in Dr Wijnroks' view, the question raised no controversy. Everyone agrees that progress depends on removing structural barriers to HIV prevention, she explained. The real question is how - and with what funding.
The bi-annual International AIDS Conference provided the ideal platform to launch the consortium, as it reached the end of its first year of existence. Directors Saidi Kapiga, Lori Heise and Charlotte Watts gave brief presentations to introduce the partnership and its work before relinquishing the floor to the Oprah-style panel.
During the prestigious week-long conference, researchers from all STRIVE partners presented posters and papers. See presentations from LSHTM's Social and Mathematical Epidemiology group, SaME, headed by STRIVE Research Director Charlotte Watts.
Thanks to Heidi Stőckl, Holly Prudden and Shawna Stich for additional photographs.
