Salim Abdool Karim tells Imran Garda that while U.S. funding cuts to HIV and AIDS programs in South Africa have dealt a significant blow, they have also opened up new opportunities.
“This is not the end for us,” says the South African epidemiologist and virologist, best known for his groundbreaking research on HIV and AIDS.
As the director of CAPRISA, South Africa’s premier AIDS research center, Karim has spent decades on the front lines of the epidemic. But now, with U.S. support shrinking, especially under political pressure from the Trump administration, how is CAPRISA adapting and pushing forward?
Imran Garda meets Abdool Karim in Durban, where they walk through the halls of the original CAPRISA center. Abdool Karim pulls no punches when he says he is ashamed of Columbia University, where he has been a professor for over 25 years, for its policies of appeasing Trump. He also contemplates what he would say to Donald Trump and Elon Musk, and why he believes we are living in an age where we all must stand up for science.
00:00 Meet Salim Abdool Karim
02:38 Inside the CAPRISA center
03:44 How did it all begin?
04:33 The impact of U.S. funding cuts
05:24 PEPFAR: President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
06:03 How CAPRISA was funded
08:08 How U.S. policies are strangling research and aid in South Africa
10:35 On Columbia University caving to Trump’s demands
12:25 Harvard vs. Columbia
13:44 Trump, Elon Musk, Marco Rubio, RFK Jr. — Karim’s message to them
15:07 Institutionalized disinformation
18:28 Disdain for experts, Bill Gates, and conspiracy theories
21:38 Dr. Anthony Fauci vs. Trump
22:53 “We need to stand up for science”
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