SA and EU celebrate S&T partnership

Image: Free Digital Photos

The Deputy Minister will be joined by the EU Ambassador to South Africa, Roeland van der Geer, and UCT vice-chancellor Dr Max Price. Researchers, including Professors Tim Noakes, Bruce Hewitson, Valerie Mizrahi, Linda-Gail Bekker and Associate Professor Arnaud Malan will present their work in health and climate change, among others.

The event will include a tour of the Emavundleni Clinic in Crossroads, which is run by the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre (DTHC), housed in UCT's Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine. The DTHC has partnered the district health services to provide a series of services including TB/HIV integration at community level, mobile services for HIV, TB and STI screening, among others.

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has taken full advantage of the S&T Agreement signed between the South Africa and the EU in 2006, participating in various EU programmes such as the Framework Programme 7 (FP7) and the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP). As a result, South Africa has emerged as one of the most successful participants from outside Europe in FP7, attracting a direct investment of more than R500 million and over R350 million in EDCTP funding.