The 7th South African TB conference was held from the 13 – 16th September at the Durban ICC International Convention Centre. This meeting aimed at addressing a critical juncture in TB control as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic that has been devastating after declines in global TB mortality over decades - an increase in TB deaths was suddenly shown in 2020.

As part of SAMRC’s efforts to build capacity for the long-term sustainability of South African health research, the Division of Research Capacity Development (RCD) offers research grants and scholarships to researchers in the clinical or health sciences. One such programme is the SAMRC Clinicians Researcher Programme scholarship funding.

As an extension of its many interventions to strengthen the country’s health systems and its response to the disease burden and pandemics such as COVID-19, the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) has introduced four new Extramural Research Units (ERUs).

To commemorate this year’s Women’s Day, the SAMRC hosted the United States Secretary of State, Antony J. Blinken for a Women in Science event at the Pretoria Office.

Eminent scientist and director of the SAMRC /Wits Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit (VIDA), Prof Shabir Madhi, is the winner of this year’s NSTF-South32 Lifetime Award. The award recognises an outstanding achievement by an individual to science, engineering and technology (SET) and innovation in South Africa over a period of 15 years or more.