The MRC HIV Prevention Research Unit (HPRU) in partnership with HSeT secured funding for 2 years from the European Developing Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) to enable to set up a website "Host Defence Interactions" (HDI)- as a facility for e-learning teaching programmes and activities in order to build foundations in academic capacity amongst students, researchers, clinical investigators and lab managers initially within Southern Africa but also for the rest of Africa in future.

Initial partnerships have been established between:

• MRC, HPRU and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) - Prof. Clive Gray.
• the University of Cape Town (UCT) - Dr. Jo-Ann Passmore
• the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) - Dr. K. Mlisana.