Established in 1996, the Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership (BHP) is a collaborative research and training initiative between the Government of Botswana and HAI. Research areas include virology, molecular biology, immunology, genetics, epidemiology, and social and behavioral issues relevant to the AIDS epidemic in Botswana and southern Africa.
With a fully-outfitted research laboratory and training center, the BHP is one of Africa’s leading scientific institutions. The Botswana–Harvard HIV Reference Laboratory on the grounds of Princess Marina Hospital in Gaborone houses clinical and laboratory research and serves as a training facility. The Lab increases Botswana’s research infrastructure by providing opportunities for students, scientists, clinicians and technicians.
Research programs underway at the BHP include topics such as how to prevent new adult HIV infections, how to identify and characterize acute infection, how human genetics affect the risk of HIV infection and disease progression, how to overcome drug resistance, how to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV during pregnancy and breastfeeding, how to improve the health of HIV-exposed-but-uninfected infants, how to predict the future course of the epidemic, and how to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of interventions for prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS.
For more information, go to the BHP’s website.