South Africa's Response to COVID-19 with Salim and Quarraisha Abdool Karim

This video is part of Sabin’s Pivoting in a Pandemic series, which captures stories of extraordinary leaders who are adapting to advance research and public health in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Roxana Rustomjee talks with Professors Salim & Quarraisha Abdool Karim from South Africa. Salim is co-chair of the South African Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19, and the country’s steadfast face of the Covid-19 public health response. He also sits on the Africa Task Force for Novel Coronavirus, overseeing the continent’s response to the global crisis.

Professor Salim and his partner, Quarraisha, lead the Durban-based Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA). The main goal of CAPRISA is to undertake globally relevant and locally responsive research that contributes to understanding HIV pathogenesis, prevention, and epidemiology as well as the links between tuberculosis and AIDS care. During the past year, Salim and Quarraisha turned their attention to South Africa’s COVID-19 crisis.

In their discussion, Salim and Quarraisha describe South Africa’s response to COVID-19, touching on vaccine manufacturing, the importance of ongoing preventative measures, and the impact of new variants. Above all, they emphasize the importance of mutual interdependence to defeat this pandemic once and for all.