Transforming Health and Education Policies and Systems for Improved HIV Prevention and Care

This is a long-term academic collaboration between UWC and Flemish universities to develop and strengthen capacity and engage in joint research collaboration and supervision of PhD students. The VLIR Programme is integrated into the wider UWC Dynamics to Build a Better Society (DBBS) Programme.

In the School of Public Health, VLIR funds three PhD scholarships and assists with funding additional activities in the  Centre for Research in HIV and AIDS (CRHA) . While the overall academic objective is to develop sustainable HIV-related research capacity in the multidisciplinary Centre, the specific academic objective is to build research capacity and strengthen partnerships in the areas of integrated HIV/AIDS prevention and care, with a specific focus on HIV/TB, education and gender based violence.

The overall development objective is to transform health and education policies and systems with the aims of

 1) decreasing the burden of HIV and TB;

 2) improving the impact of education on HIV/AIDS prevention; and

3) developing proper responses for prevention of and response to gender-based violence. 

To this end the specific development objective is to make policy recommendations based on research in the areas of integrated HIV/AIDS prevention and care, with a specific focus on HIV/TB, education and gender-based violence.

The CRHA seeks to attract a multidisciplinary team of experts to conduct research that will inform policies and transform health and education systems with the aims of

1) improving HIV and TB prevention and care,

2) improving the impact of education on HIV/AIDS prevention; and

3) developing proper responses for prevention of and response to gender-based violence.

Dynamics of Building a Better Society (DBBS)

The University of the Western Cape has an established tradition of being a university committed to the needs of a society in transition, using its academic mandate as a lever for societal change. As such the Dynamics of Building a Better Society (DBBS) programme is a strategic resource supporting the decision to be an “engaged university” - and speaks strongly to UWC’s ongoing commitment to align its education mandate with that of establishing a new political, social and economic order in South Africa. The DBBS programme has assisted UWC to redefine and refocus its historic mission – seeking to mobilise the University’s intellectual resources, both in defining problems and in proposing and piloting possible solutions. 

The core of DBBS Phase II consists of suporting activities in five research centres, established as usual by the Council of the University on the recommendation of the Senate, with standard accountability structures and funding mechanisms.

Each of the DBBS projects will support the centres to achieve certain of the following results:

• Strong intellectual leadership
• Strong and resilient research teams (a significant cluster of productive researchers engaged in ambitious research projects)
• Effective national and international linkages, including committed N-S-S activities
• Firm indications of achieving a regional and/or international profile in the research field
• Long-term ambitious research development plans
• Indications of a strong funding base and prospects
• Researchers will contribute areas of expertise to a regional or national platform
• Research related activities, such as publications in accredited journals, joint funding applications, postdoctoral research, and supervision of M and PhD students will form part of the centres’ daily programme.