The director of the Centre for HIV/AIDS Research Program in South Africa has expressed optimism that the pandemic will be cured in the next five to ten years.

"I am optimistic that we will be able to see a cure in the next five to ten years because we will be more advanced on that front due to the combination of antiretrovirals and antibodies," said Salim Abdool Karim.

"Let's hope because there are [in the world] 40 million people infected with the virus (...), imagine that we can cure these people," he stressed.

The South African academic, who was taking part in a debate on the problem of HIV-AIDS (Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) on public television SABC, indicated that "there are efforts using antibodies with antiretrovirals", which is why he is "a little more optimistic that a cure may be available".

Regarding a possible vaccine, Karim stressed that "there are many interesting new approaches", but he believes that "there is still a long way to go before we see a vaccine".

At least 7.8 million people are living with HIV-AIDS in South Africa, which has one of the largest antiretroviral treatment programs in the world, according to the South African authorities.

In 2023, South Africa recorded 1.3 million new cases of infection, said doctor Salim Abdool Karim, stressing that the number of infections globally "is unusually high and unacceptably high too", particularly among young women and boys, he said. (NMinuto)