SAT Engages Communities in NPTs

Kadoma, Zimbabwe - More than 50 representatives of Community Based Organisations (CBOs) and media representatives met at Kadoma to strategise on ways to engage local communuties in New Prevention Technologies (NPTs).

In her opening remarks, Deputy Executive Director & Company Secretary of the Southern African AIDS Trust (SAT) Flanny Chiganze spoke about the yawning gaps existing between communities and research. The workshop sought to help SAT assess suitability of NPT modules, strengthen the capacity of media representatives to report on NPT trials with accuracy and sensitivity, raise skills amongst community-based organisations (CBOs) to critically analyse media discourse about HIV prevention trials as well as increase the capacity of community representatives to understand and communicate NPT trial results effectively.

Main on the agenda were discusions around the following:

1. Understanding the Research process
2. Understanding Prevention Trials
3. Understanding Trial Results
4. Interpreting Trial Results (Post)
5. Critical Analysis of Trial Reporting

SAT will be rolling out similar workshops in Zambia and Malawi. Zimbabwe is home to microbicide and PrEP research studies being conducted by the University of Zimbabwe -University of California, San Francisco (UZ-UCSF) Collaborative Research Programme.