Southampton's new Centre for AIDS Research celebrates its official opening

International experts on HIV/AIDS were in Southampton today (Thursday 15 April) to mark the official opening of a new Centre for AIDS Research at the city's University.

The Centre is a multidisciplinary research outlet focusing on the social, economic and political context and impacts of HIV/AIDS. Its research teams will undertake high-quality research into HIV/AIDS aiming to bring together social science and biomedical research to produce new insights, and working closely with international agencies including UNAIDS and the new UN Commission on HIV and Governance in Africa.

Director of the Centre for AIDS Research, Dr Nyovani Madise, said: "According to UNAIDS, the global AIDS epidemic shows no sign of abating. Five million people became infected with HIV world wide and three million died this year alone - the highest ever.

"With 40 million people world wide now living with this disease and no effective cure or treatment that is affordable for all, there is a vital need to develop new research on how to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic at all levels from the local to the international," added Dr Madise.

The Centre aims to produce research that will be of relevance for policy-makers at local, national and international levels, and that will help define policies and strategies for combating the impacts of HIV/AIDS.