HPP is located in the Doris Duke Medical Research Institute (DDMRI) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine Campus.

HPP is a research initiative established in 2002 at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in collaboration with Harvard Medical School, USA. This collaborative programme was initially funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, but now attracts funding from other international and local funding agencies. 

The HPP laboratory is based at the DDMRI and covers approximately 600m2 of space. This laboratory is spread out between the 1st and 2nd floors of the DDMRI. It serves as both a facility for exploratory pathogenesis and translational research into HIV and TB, as well as a sample repository for all HPP studies samples. The laboratory has capabilities to do viral loads, CD4+ T cell counts, diagnostic, polymerase chain reaction assays, processing of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), advanced flow cytometry, tissue culture, gene expression assays and recombinant DNA technology procedures. The laboratory has access to a Sanger sequencing facility.

The laboratory is equipped with centrifuges, freezers, class 2 biosafety cabinets, pipettes and plastic glassware, and computers on a Local Area Network (LAN) which is supported by the University’s IT Department. The Laboratory has recently installed an automated laboratory data management system (LIMS) called LabWare. This system uses windows based workstations and is internet enabled.