Research seminar: HIV epidemic control in South Africa: an analysis of shifting responsibilities between 2011 and 2019

Dr. Hanlie Myburgh. Stellenbosch University, South Africa

Hanlie Myburgh has over 10 years of experience researching in HIV and TB programmes in Southern Africa, grounded in a deep understanding of South Africa’s health system. Beginning with an HIV-focused MA and early work at a PEPFAR-funded NGO supporting government HIV/TB initiatives, she became closely engaged in both community- and facility-level programme implementation, with a special interest in how relational dynamics within health systems shape service delivery and access. In 2015, she joined the Desmond Tutu TB Centre at Stellenbosch University to contribute to the landmark HPTN 071 (PopART) trial—the largest HIV prevention trial to date. As a core member of the socio-behavioural science team, she led the design, data collection, analysis, and management of its qualitative component across nine South African communities. Since then, she’s continued her work at the Desmond Tutu TB Centre as part of a multidisciplinary socio-behavioural science team, implementing a range of TB and HIV-related research and implementation science projects using qualitative and mixed-methods approaches. A central ambition in her health-related research is to use ethnographic insight to strengthen health services in low- and middle-income contexts, and to inform delivery of programmes and services that reduce – rather than reproduce – existing inequalities and barriers to care.