Draft:Epicentre Research NPC
This draft is not adequately supported by reliable sources. Wikipedia's verifiability policy requires that all content be supported by reliable sources.
Where to get help
How to improve a draft
You can also browse Wikipedia:Featured articles and Wikipedia:Good articles to find examples of Wikipedia's best writing on topics similar to your proposed article. Improving your odds of a speedy review To improve your odds of a faster review, tag your draft with relevant WikiProject tags using the button below. This will let reviewers know a new draft has been submitted in their area of interest. For instance, if you wrote about a female astronomer, you would want to add the Biography, Astronomy, and Women scientists tags. Editor resources
|  |
Comment: In accordance with the Wikimedia Foundation's Terms of Use, I disclose that I have been paid by my employer for my contributions to this article. Aimz97 (talk) 09:16, 26 February 2026 (UTC)
 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (February 2026) |
| Founded | c. 2005 |
|---|---|
| Type | Non-profit company (NPC) |
| Headquarters | Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |
| Services | Health research, diagnostic evaluation, private pathology, sexual health testing, corporate wellness |
| Website | epicentre |
Epicentre Research NPC (also trading as Epicentre Aids Risk Management (Pty) Ltd) is a South African non-profit health organisation headquartered in Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal. Founded approximately in 2005, Epicentre operates across three provinces, KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape, and Gauteng. They provide public health research, private laboratory testing, and corporate wellness services.
The organisation is best known for two complementary functions: conducting peer-reviewed epidemiological and diagnostic research in collaboration with international bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND); and operating a network of walk-in pathology laboratories and at-home testing services available directly to the public.
Epicentre has contributed to more than 100 research studies addressing infectious diseases. These include HIV, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and COVID-19, as well as chronic and lifestyle conditions. Its diagnostic evaluation work has contributed to the validation of over 50 rapid diagnostic devices used in South Africa and internationally.[1]
History
[edit]Epicentre was founded approximately in 2005 with a specific focus on HIV/AIDS risk management in workplace settings. Its earliest published work was an HIV prevalence study and cost analysis commissioned by Buffalo City Municipality in the Eastern Cape, conducted to inform the development of an HIV/AIDS workplace strategy for the organisation's workforce.[2] This founding work which helped employers understand the HIV burden among their staff and plan evidence-based responses, established the model that would evolve into Epicentre's ongoing corporate wellness division.
By the mid-2010s, Epicentre had expanded significantly beyond its workplace origins, establishing itself as a principal public health research partner in KwaZulu-Natal, one of the provinces most heavily affected by the HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa.
A major milestone was the organisation's involvement in the HIV Incidence and Prevalence in South Africa (HIPSS) longitudinal surveillance study, which ran from approximately 2014 to 2017 and monitored HIV incidence and prevalence trends in the uMgungundlovu District of KwaZulu-Natal.[3]
During the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022), Epicentre became a key implementing partner in South Africa's national SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence surveys and rapid antigen test evaluation programmes, producing findings published in journals including PLOS ONE, Clinical Infectious Diseases, and The Journal of Infectious Diseases.[4]
Organisational structure
[edit]Epicentre operates under two legal entities: Epicentre Research NPC, registered as a non-profit company in South Africa and responsible for research activities, and Epicentre Aids Risk Management (Pty) Ltd, the commercial entity through which laboratory testing and corporate wellness services are provided. The name "Aids Risk Management" in the commercial entity reflects the organisation's founding purpose of assisting employers with HIV risk mitigation in the workplace.
Epicentre's operations are based in three South African cities: its original base in the greater Durban area (Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal), Cape Town (Western Cape), and Johannesburg (Gauteng).
Health research
[edit]Focus areas
[edit]Epicentre's research programme addresses several disease categories that represent significant public health burdens in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa:
- HIV, tuberculosis, and STIs: including prevention, diagnostics, treatment adherence, and community engagement
- COVID-19 and respiratory diseases: including seroprevalence surveillance and rapid test evaluation
- Chronic and lifestyle diseases: including diabetes, cardiovascular health, thyroid disorders, and metabolic conditions
- Sexual and reproductive health: including STI testing normalisation, fertility, and HPV
- Women's and men's health: including hormone profiling and gender-specific disease risk
- Adolescent and child health: improving access and outcomes for young South Africans
Research methodology
[edit]Epicentre employs a range of epidemiological methods including cross-sectional household surveys, longitudinal cohort studies, mixed-methods evaluations, and field-based diagnostic evaluations of point-of-care technologies. All studies are conducted in compliance with Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and Good Clinical Laboratory Practice (GCLP) guidelines, with ethics oversight provided by accredited South African review committees.
Notable studies
[edit]HIPSS — HIV Incidence and Prevalence Surveillance Study (2014–2017)
[edit]The HIPSS study was a longitudinal surveillance initiative in the uMgungundlovu District of KwaZulu-Natal. The study monitored trends in HIV prevention, treatment uptake, and incidence, and provided evidence on the population-level impact of antiretroviral therapy scale-up.[5]
DREAMS Evaluation (2018–2025)
[edit]Epicentre served as a primary evaluating partner of the DREAMS (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe) programme, a PEPFAR-supported HIV prevention initiative targeting adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in high-burden South African districts. Epicentre staff contributed to multiple waves of data collection, biostatistical analysis, and publication across the programme's lifespan. Results were published in JAMA Network Open, AIDS, and Frontiers in Public Health.[6][7]
MTV Shuga Impact Evaluation (2019–2025)
[edit]Epicentre evaluated the impact of MTV Shuga, a mass-media edutainment programme for HIV and sexual health education, on HIV testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake among South African adolescents. A 2025 study also examined how young people engage emotionally and behaviourally with the programme's content, using a novel "reaction video" methodology.[8][9]
National COVID-19 Seroprevalence Surveys (2020–2022)
[edit]Epicentre contributed to multiple rounds of the South African national household seroprevalence survey, co-implemented with the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), to estimate population-level SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence across successive pandemic waves.[10]
Selected publications
[edit]| Year | Title (abbreviated) | Journal |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Psychosocial and behavioral factors associated with HIV among adolescent girls and young women in DREAMS districts in South Africa | Frontiers in Public Health |
| 2025 | Evaluating reaction videos of young people watching edutainment media (MTV Shuga): qualitative observational study | JMIR Formative Research |
| 2025 | Optimizing syphilis screening in South Africa: efficacy of the iStatis antibody test in point-of-care settings | AIDS Research and Therapy |
| 2024 | Evaluating the intensity of exposure to MTV Shuga for HIV prevention | JMIR Formative Research |
| 2023 | Seroprevalence survey of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody in South Africa, 2020–2021 | PLOS Global Public Health |
| 2023 | Healthcare utilisation during the first two COVID-19 waves in South Africa | PLOS ONE |
| 2023 | Evaluating MTV Shuga on HIV and sexual health service demand among AGYW | BMJ Open |
| 2023 | Field evaluations of four SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen tests (including Panbio Abbott) during the Delta variant wave in South Africa | Diagnostic and Prognostic Research |
| 2023 | Performance of rapid antigen tests in identifying Omicron BA.4/BA.5 infections in South Africa | Diagnostic and Prognostic Research |
| 2022 | Clinical evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen tests (including Panbio Abbott) during the Omicron wave | The Journal of Infectious Diseases |
| 2022 | Association of HIV intervention uptake with HIV prevalence among AGYW | JAMA Network Open |
| 2022 | Inroads for HIV prevention among men: DREAMS partnership findings | AIDS |
| 2020 | Population prevalence of STIs in a high HIV burden district, KwaZulu-Natal | International Journal of Infectious Diseases |
| 2017 | Misdiagnosis of HIV infection during a community-based survey, South Africa | Journal of the International AIDS Society |
| 2015 | Strengthening HIV surveillance in the antiretroviral therapy era (HIPSS design) | BMC Infectious Diseases |
| 2005 | HIV prevalence study and costing analysis for an HIV/AIDS workplace strategy, Buffalo City Municipality | Technical report |
Diagnostic evaluation and clinical trials
[edit]A core and internationally recognised service area for Epicentre is the independent clinical evaluation of rapid diagnostic devices and point-of-care (POC) technologies. The organisation functions as an end-to-end contract research partner for diagnostic manufacturers, research institutions, and public health agencies seeking regulatory-ready evidence to support device submissions to bodies including the World Health Organization Prequalification Programme and the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA).[11]
Participant recruitment
[edit]A distinctive strength of Epicentre's clinical trial offering is its capacity for participant recruitment across diverse South African populations. Epicentre is able to draw on its national network of walk-in laboratory sites in KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape, and Gauteng; as well as its established community fieldwork infrastructure built over two decades. This allows Epicentre to recruit both prospective participants and access a large repository of retrospective stored samples across a range of disease prevalences and demographic profiles. This is particularly valuable for diagnostic evaluations that require access to high-prevalence populations for sexually transmitted infections, HIV, and tuberculosis, conditions that are significantly more prevalent in South Africa than in many higher-income settings where device manufacturers are typically based.
End-to-end evaluation services
[edit]Epicentre provides the full range of services required to take a diagnostic evaluation from inception to regulatory submission, including ethics application preparation, study protocol development, participant recruitment and enrolment, collection of prospective and retrospective biological samples, head-to-head performance testing against reference standards, and the generation of validated evaluation reports suitable for sponsor or regulatory submission. All evaluation activities are conducted by a Good Clinical Practice (GCP)-certified team operating under documentation standards aligned with WHO, GCLP, and SAHPRA requirements.[12]
Abbott Panbio COVID-19 antigen test
[edit]A well-documented example of Epicentre's device evaluation work is its contribution to the clinical evaluation of the Abbott Panbio COVID-19 Ag Rapid Test Device (nasal), which received WHO Emergency Use Listing (EUL). Epicentre CEO and founder Cherie Cawood is a named co-author on three peer-reviewed field evaluations of SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen tests conducted at Epicentre's drive-through testing centres in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, in partnership with CAPRISA and FIND.
During the Delta variant wave (2021), Epicentre's sites contributed to a prospective evaluation of four rapid antigen tests, published in Diagnostic and Prognostic Research in 2023.[13] A subsequent evaluation during the Omicron wave compared the nasal Panbio device directly against the Abbott RealTime SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR reference assay, finding sensitivity of 81.42% and specificity exceeding 99%; this study was published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases in 2022, with Cawood as a named co-author alongside CAPRISA researchers including Quarraisha Abdool Karim and Salim Abdool Karim.[14] A third evaluation, examining performance during the BA.4/BA.5 Omicron subvariant wave (May–June 2022), was also published with Cawood as co-author.[15]
STI rapid test evaluations
[edit]Epicentre has conducted and is continuing to conduct clinical evaluations of rapid diagnostic tests for sexually transmitted infections, with a focus on generating the field-based performance data required for WHO prequalification. A completed 2025 evaluation of the iStatis syphilis antibody point-of-care test, conducted across 1,500 participants at three South African sites, demonstrated sensitivities of 96–99% across specimen types (serum, plasma, and fingerprick whole blood).[16] As of 2026, Epicentre is conducting further evaluations of rapid antigen tests targeting additional STIs, with results intended to support WHO approval processes for deployment in high-burden settings across sub-Saharan Africa.[17]
Laboratory testing services
[edit]Walk-in laboratories
[edit]Epicentre operates walk-in laboratory locations in three South African cities:
- Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal (head office)
- Observatory, Cape Town, Western Cape
- Parktown North, Johannesburg, Gauteng
Patients are able to walk-in and may book appointments online or by telephone. Results are accessible via a dedicated physicians' mobile application and through direct patient communication.
Home testing
[edit]Epicentre provides Sexual health and gut health at-home sample collection kits that allow individuals to collect their own samples and return them for laboratory analysis, shipped nationally within South Africa.
Sexual health testing
[edit]A prominent component of Epicentre's consumer testing service is sexual health, encompassing tests for HIV, herpes simplex virus (HSV), human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis, and others.
OptimalDx
[edit]Epicentre uses OptimalDx (ODX) functional blood chemistry analysis software, targeting chronic disease risk, metabolic health, hormonal status, and micronutrient levels.
Corporate wellness
[edit]Epicentre's involvement in workplace health dates to its founding. The organisation's earliest work, conducted in 2005, was an HIV prevalence study commissioned by Buffalo City Municipality to develop an evidence-based HIV/AIDS strategy for its workforce. These were one of the first such programmes of its kind in South Africa.[18] This approach, combining population-level HIV testing with cost modelling and strategic recommendations for employers, established the template for Epicentre's ongoing corporate wellness offering.
Today, Epicentre provides occupational health and corporate wellness services to employers across South Africa, delivered through its commercial entity Epicentre Aids Risk Management (Pty) Ltd. Programmes include on-site health screening, biometric assessments, HIV and chronic disease testing, and customised workforce wellness interventions. These services are designed to improve employee health outcomes and reduce absenteeism, and directly reflect Epicentre's founding mission of helping organisations understand and manage the health risks faced by their workforce.
Partners and collaborations
[edit]Epicentre's research and implementation work is conducted in collaboration with a range of local and international organisations, including:
- World Health Organization (WHO)
- Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND)
- National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD)
- Wits Health Consortium (WHC)
- University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN)
- London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)
- Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA)
Ethics and quality standards
[edit]All Epicentre studies are conducted in accordance with Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and Good Clinical Laboratory Practice (GCLP) guidelines. Ethical approvals are reviewed by South African institutional ethics committees accredited under the National Health Research Ethics Council (NHREC).
External links
[edit]- Official website
- Epicentre Research Publications
- Point-of-Care Evaluations
- Corporate Wellness Services
References
[edit]- ^ Epicentre Research NPC. "Health Research." epicentre.org.za. Retrieved February 2026. https://epicentre.org.za/research/
- ^ Louw J et al. "HIV Prevalence Study and Costing Analysis undertaken for the development of an HIV/AIDS Workplace Strategy for Buffalo City Municipality." 2005. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/39664805.pdf
- ^ Kharsany AB et al. "Strengthening HIV Surveillance in the Antiretroviral Therapy Era." BMC Infectious Diseases. 2015. DOI: 10.1186/s12879-015-1274-1
- ^ Madhi SA et al. "Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 after the Second Wave in South Africa." Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2022;75(1):e57–e66.
- ^ Kharsany AB et al. "Strengthening HIV Surveillance in the Antiretroviral Therapy Era." BMC Infectious Diseases. 2015. DOI: 10.1186/s12879-015-1274-1
- ^ Govender K et al. "Association of HIV Intervention Uptake With HIV Prevalence in Adolescent Girls and Young Women in South Africa." JAMA Network Open. 2022;5(5):e220263.
- ^ Govender K, Beckett S, Cawood C, et al. "Psychosocial and behavioral factors associated with HIV among adolescent girls and young women in DREAMS districts in South Africa." Frontiers in Public Health. 2025. DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1620084
- ^ Cawood C et al. "Evaluating use of mass-media communication intervention 'MTV-Shuga'." BMJ Open. 2023;13(5):e062804.
- ^ Baker V, Mulwa S, Khanyile D, Cawood C, et al. "Evaluating Reaction Videos of Young People Watching Edutainment Media (MTV Shuga): Qualitative Observational Study." JMIR Formative Research. 2025. DOI: 10.2196/55275
- ^ Moyo S et al. "Seroprevalence survey of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody in South Africa, 2020–2021." PLOS Global Public Health. 2023. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0002358
- ^ Epicentre Research NPC. "Point of Care Evaluations." epicentre.org.za. Retrieved February 2026. https://epicentre.org.za/point-of-care-evaluation/
- ^ Epicentre Research NPC. "Point of Care Evaluations." epicentre.org.za. Retrieved February 2026. https://epicentre.org.za/point-of-care-evaluation/
- ^ Samsunder N, Lustig G, Ngubane S, et al. "Field evaluations of four SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen tests during SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant wave in South Africa." Diagnostic and Prognostic Research. 2023. DOI: 10.1186/s41512-023-00151-3
- ^ Samsunder N, de Vos M, Ngcapu S, Giandhari J, Lewis L, Kharsany ABM, Cawood C, et al. "Clinical Evaluation of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Rapid Antigen Tests During the Omicron Wave in South Africa." The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2022;226(8):1412–1417. DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jiac333
- ^ Samsunder N, Lustig G, de Vos M, et al. "Performance of rapid antigen tests in identifying Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 infections in South Africa." PubMed. 2023. PMID: 37329842
- ^ Mahomed S, Madurai S, Nair S, et al. "Optimizing syphilis screening in South Africa: efficacy of the iStatis antibody test in point-of-care settings amid reinfection challenges." AIDS Research and Therapy. 2025. DOI: 10.1186/s12981-025-00773-1
- ^ Epicentre Research NPC. "Point of Care Evaluations." epicentre.org.za. Retrieved February 2026. https://epicentre.org.za/point-of-care-evaluation/
- ^ Louw J et al. "HIV Prevalence Study and Costing Analysis undertaken for the development of an HIV/AIDS Workplace Strategy for Buffalo City Municipality." 2005. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/39664805.pdf
Category:Health organisations in South Africa Category:Non-profit organisations based in South Africa Category:Organisations based in KwaZulu-Natal Category:HIV/AIDS organisations in Africa Category:Medical research institutes in South Africa Category:Occupational health
- provide significant coverage: discuss the subject in detail, excluding routine coverage like product launches, staff appointments, or financial reports and listings in databases or listicles;
- are reliable: from reputable outlets with editorial oversight;
- are independent: not connected to the subject, such as press releases, the subject's own website, or sponsored content.
Please add references that meet all three of these criteria. If none exist, the subject is not yet suitable for Wikipedia.