A Conversation with Researchers: Tracking HIV Through Wastewater in South Africa

Wastewater surveillance helped track COVID-19. Can it do the same for HIV?

The King Center on Global Development welcomes four visiting researchers from the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), working on HIV wastewater surveillance in KwaZulu-Natal.

A joint Stanford-SAMRC team is mapping HIV concentrations across northern KwaZulu-Natal to detect unrecognized transmission of HIV, measure changes in drug resistance and in anti-retroviral drug residues over time, enhance population surveillance, and track the success of interventions, offering a potentially cost-effective and relatively unbiased approach to public health monitoring.

Julie Parsonnet and Alexandra Boehm are co-Principal Investigators of the multiyear HIV Wastewater Epidemiology in South Africa Initiative.

Join Parsonnet and the SAMRC team for conversation over lunch, an opportunity to learn firsthand from African epidemiologists and laboratory scientists about the realities of their work in the field, and about infectious disease surveillance in vulnerable communities.

About the speakers:

Dr. Nomfundo Mahlangeni is a Senior Scientist at the SAMRC, where she leads the Water, Sanitation and Society Research Program within the Environment and Health Research Unit (EHRU). Her recent work includes detection and quantification of pharmaceutical compounds, including antiretroviral drugs, in wastewater. She is also passionate about research addressing the health and well-being of women and children in vulnerable communities.

Dr. Noluxabiso Mangwana is a Senior Scientist and epidemiologist at SAMRC’s Biomedical Research and Innovation Platform. Her research spans wastewater and environmental surveillance, antimicrobial resistance, and infectious disease epidemiology, integrating molecular tools and epidemiological analysis to inform public health action. Her current work includes infectious disease surveillance and the development of AMR surveillance within a One Health framework.

Nomacusi Sibeko is a Senior Research Technologist at SAMRC within the Environment and Health Research Unit (EHRU). Her research background includes microbiome–drug interactions, antimicrobial evaluations, and innovative approaches to water, urine, and faecal sludge treatment. In her current role, Sibeko is involved in environmental health research, particularly the wastewater-based surveillance of infectious diseases. She is passionate about applying laboratory science to address public health challenges.

Sthembile Sithole is a laboratory technician based at the University of Zululand, where she currently supports SAMRC on the Wastewater Surveillance of HIV RNA and Antiretroviral Drugs in KwaZulu-Natal, in collaboration with Stanford University. Her academic and research interests are focused on molecular and laboratory-based approaches to public health research, with particular interest in infectious disease surveillance and the application of wastewater epidemiology.

About the moderator:

Dr. Julie Parsonnet is a King Center faculty affiliate and Stanford Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health. Dr. Parsonnet is an Infectious Diseases clinician and epidemiologist whose research focuses on the role of infections in chronic disease. Her early work was pivotal in establishing H. pylori as a cause of gastric cancer and gastric lymphoma as well as protective effects of infections against esophageal diseases. She did extensive work on COVID during the pandemic, including surveillance of COVID in wastewater. More recently, she has expanded this work with Dr. Alexandra Boehm to study other viruses, including HIV.