The Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation (DTHF)is a nonprofit organization

Nonprofit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

 founded to provide treatment for and conduct research relating to HIV

HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

. It is based in Cape Town

Cape Town

Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

, South Africa and is managed with the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the University of Cape Town

University of Cape Town

The University of Cape Town is a public research university located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa and the second oldest extant university in Africa.-History:The roots of...

. The Foundation operates community sites throughout greater Cape Town, providing treatment, testing, and outreach services to at-risk communities.
The Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation began as the HIV Research Unit based in New Somerset Hospital in the early 1990s. It was acclaimed as one of the first public clinics to offer anti-retroviral therapy to those living with HIV.

History

The Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation (DTHF) founded by Robin Wood and Linda-Gail Bekker in January 2004. It is supported by Desmond Tutu

Desmond Tutu

Desmond Mpilo Tutu is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid...

 in its mission to include HIV and tuberculosis treatment, prevention, and training to the most affected populations in the South Africa and beyond. The DTHF has built a reputation for excellence in medical research and innovative community participation and support by working with local and international
partners and with City and Provincial health authorities in the Western Cape

Western Cape

The Western Cape is a province in the south west of South Africa. The capital is Cape Town. Prior to 1994, the region that now forms the Western Cape was part of the much larger Cape Province...

. The foundation receives funding from PePFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) DAIDS (Division of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Division of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

The Division of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome is a division of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases which is part of the National Institutes of Health. It was formed in 1986 as a part of the to address the national research needs created by the advent and spread of the...

), the French Development Agency

French Development Agency

French Development Agency is the French international development agency.The Agence Française de Développement is a public institution providing development financing...

, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. It is "driven by the interests and passions of the Gates family"...

, and International AIDS Vaccine Initiative

International AIDS Vaccine Initiative

The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative is a global not-for-profit, public-private partnership working to accelerate the development of vaccines to prevent HIV infection and AIDS. IAVI researches and develops vaccine candidates, conducts policy analyses, serves as an advocate for the field and...

, among others.

Projects

The DTHF's projects include support programs for HIV positive youth, distance-learning training manuals and education, clinical support by HIV positive counselors, outreach to vulnerable groups such as men who have sex with men, holistic youth services including a youth center building in Masiphumelele, women’s health services, a children’s anti-retroviral clinic, and two colorful mobile HIV testing units called Tutu Testers. The DTHF has set up adult and youth community advisory boards to assist in building relationships with communities and increasing their understanding of the studies the DTHF undertakes its sites.
The Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation head office is at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town

University of Cape Town

The University of Cape Town is a public research university located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa and the second oldest extant university in Africa.-History:The roots of...

. Our outreach sites are in Gugulethu, Crossroads, Nyanga

Nyanga

Nyanga may mean:*Nyanga Province, of Gabon*Nyanga, Gabon, a place in the province of Nyanga in Gabon*Nyanga River, in Gabon and Congo*Nyanga, Zimbabwe, a town*Nyanga National Park in Zimbabwe*Nyanga, Cape Town, a township in South Africa...

, Khayelitsha

Khayelitsha

Khayelitsha is a partially informal township in Western Cape, South Africa, located on the Cape Flats in the City of Cape Town. The name is Xhosa for New Home...

 and Masiphumelele.
The foundation organized South African participantion for the IPrEx

IPrEx

The iPrEx study was a double-blind, placebo controlled Phase III clinical trial that began in 2007 following three years of community consultation. iPrEx was the first human efficacy study of pre-exposure prophylaxis to report efficacy data. iPrEx was sponsored by the U.S...

 study, which was a clinical trial

Clinical trial

Clinical trials are a set of procedures in medical research and drug development that are conducted to allow safety and efficacy data to be collected for health interventions...

 testing the effects of Truvada

Truvada

Tenofovir/emtricitabine, trademark Truvada, is a fixed-dose combination of two antiretroviral drugs used for the treatment of HIV. It consists of 300 milligrams of tenofovir and 200 milligrams of emtricitabine. By combining the two agents into one tablet, it reduces the pill burden and increases...

, a pre-exposure prophylaxis

Pre-exposure prophylaxis

Pre-exposure prophylaxis is any medical or public health procedure used before exposure to the disease causing agent, its purpose is to prevent, rather than treat or cure a disease. An example would be if a doctor gave a medication used to treat a disease to a healthy person who is not thought to...

 for HIV infection. The IPrEx study recruited participants from six countries— Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, South Africa, Thailand and the United States — partnering with the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation for recruitment in South Africa.

Recognition

In 2009 Linda-Gail Bekker won the Royal Society Pfizer Award

Royal Society Pfizer Award

The Royal Society Pfizer Award has been awarded by the Royal Society since 2006 to African-based researchers at the start of their career who are making innovative contributions to the biological sciences in Africa...

for the research she did at the DTHF concerning HIV and tuberculosis coinfections.

In 2009 South Africa received R3.5-billion in development contracts from France as foreign aid, of which 3.3 million went to the DTHF.