Halala: PhD Student’s HIV Research Paper Involving Traditional Medicine Lauded: “We Are Very Proud of You”

• A young PhD student from the University of KwaZulu-Natal is breaking barriers with her research on HIV and traditional healers
• The discipline of Traditional Medicine student's abstract of her research was selected as Track A's best in the Basic Science section
• The student will be joining clinicians, health professionals and other researchers at the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa

Khanyisile Mngomezulu is a PhD student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She is studying the discipline of Traditional Medicine. Recently, her abstract (a summary of the major aspects of her paper) was selected as the best in the Track A: Basic Science section.

Mngomezulu will deliver her paper at the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa in December. She will be joining health professionals, researchers and clinicians who will be sharing their intelligence in terms of ideas on HIV/AIDS and other STIs.

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Her study is called 'Investigating the Potential of Traditional Medicines in Reactivation of Latent HIV-1'. Its focus is on locating medicinal plants - used traditionally - that have the ability to reactivate dormant HIV using models from labs.

According to a statement released by UKZN, Mngomezulu says her research may potentially locate an end to the problem of HIV treatment. She explained that a large amount of the population tends to rely solely on traditional medicine from healers and that their work is highly neglected.

She explained that the project gathered traditional medicines that were obtained from healers as part of community engagement with medicine that is already displaying impressive anti-HIV activity.

Mngomezulu added that the next step in her project is to validate the effectiveness of the medicine. Take a look at UKZN's post about her below:

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Read some of the comments left for her:

Nkosikhona Deric Madondo said:

"This must be celebrated... Super proud of you Ms Dlakadla."

Nolwazi Mpontshane shared:

"A massive congratulations to Khanyisile Nkabayenkosi Mngomezulu. Keep that 'UKZN' flag up there girl!!!"

Mbali Silangwe added:

"My skwiza. We are very proud of you Dali."

Meet Hlumelo Marepula: SA engineer's groundbreaking research turns human urine into fertiliser

In other educational news, Briefly News recently reported that Hlumelo Marepula's ultimate goal is to turn human urine into usable fertiliser. This will inevitably become a valuable commodity that assists the planet as well as becomes a cost-effective alternative for farmers.

The UCT master's candidate received an award recently for making a urea-ethanol solution. Her ground-breaking research recrystallised the urea-ethanol solution to produce urea or fertiliser and possible diesel engine fluid with a by-product of water.

Marepula began her research by exploring if using human urine in jet fuel production would be feasible. She did this under the guidance of associate professor Dyllon Randall. Her work eventually evolved to focus more on the transformation of human urine into fertiliser.

Source: Briefly News