Discovering novel plant-derived drug leads for the treatment of HIV through an integrated approach

Abstract

HIV/AIDS is now the leading cause of death in Sub-Saharan Africa and has moved up to fourth place among all causes of death worldwide. According to estimates from the UNAIDS 2009 report (UNAIDS 2009) on the global AIDS epidemic, around 33.4 million people were living with HIV and 2 million died of AIDS related causes in 2008. Current prevention strategies are inadequate to stop the rapid spread of the epidemic. The search for safe, affordable treatments for HIV thus remains a major challenge and a key towards controlling the disease. A collaborative research programme was initiated between the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa and Esperanza Medicines Foundation (EMF), InPheno in Switzerland to evaluate South African medicinal plants for the identification of potentially new anti-HIV drug leads