What is HARP?
HARP ("HPV in Africa Research Partnership") is a Consortium of academic institutions aiming to provide rigorous evidence to guide cervical cancer screening programmes for women living with HIV in Africa. The full title of the project is“Evaluation and impact of screening and treatment approaches for the prevention of cervical neoplasia in HIV-positive women in Burkina Faso and South Africa”.
The overall aim of HARP is to improve cervical cancer prevention programmes for HIV–infected women in South Africa and Burkina Faso, by evaluating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of alternative screening strategies, and by developing algorithms leading to earlier detection and management of cervical cancer in these high-risk populations.
HARP is a 42-month collaborative research consortium whose partners are:
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), London [UK];
- University of Witwatersrand - Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (WITS-WRHI) [formerly University of Witwatersrand - Reproductive Health & HIV Research Unit (Wits-RHRU)], Johannesburg [South Africa];
- Centre of International Research for Health at University of Ouagadougou (CRIS-UO), Ouagadougou [Burkina Faso]; and
- University of Montpellier 1 (UM-1), Montpellier [France].
The HARP Consortium is funded through the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° HEALTH-2010-F2-265396. HARP was one of several projects that was funded as a result of the special Africa Call 2010 addressing some of the science & technology objectives of the "Africa-EU Strategic Partnership" with emphasis on 'Better Health for Africa', as well as 'Water and Food Security'. The Africa Call from the 7th Research Framework Programme aims to strengthen Africa's base in research areas addressing these complex issues by funding projects aimed at enhancing African socio-economic development and capacity building.
