MOLLY: One ethical issue in the AZT trials was fairness, the people in the developing countries received a different course of the treatment than those in the developed countries. The African mother-baby patients were put at risk for the gain of American patients. AMY: One solution that is being implemented in order to create fairness in the underdeveloped countries in order to get treatment for HIV / AIDS is evaluating the possibility of non-retroviral interventions such as vitamin A supplements. studies found that the woman that took vitamin A had a decreased chance of getting infected with the virus compared to the subjects that took the placebo which did in fact get infected. Another cheap and effective way to stop the transmission of …show more content…
This was put into place to prioritize the subject’s health needs and to keep them informed of what experiments they are entailed, along with the outcome of the study; Not only do they have to sign a consent form, they also are told that the study will involve half of the subjects to receive the AZT and the other half will receive a placebo. however, this was a controlled blind study so therefore they could not be told who was receiving the placebo. Before the subject decides to sign up for the study, they are provided information about HIV / AIDS, the intent of the study and the possible risks and benefits for them and their children. The studies and consent forms are approved by the Institutional Review Board at CDC and by the equivalent human subject protection groups in the countries in which the studies are being done. ("CDC Studies of AZT to Prevent Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission in Developing Countries | HIV/AIDS News | AIDSinfo,"
These codes and guidelines can be condensed into 3 key areas, consent, benefice and justice. Informed consent is crucial to respecting research subject’s individuality and humanity and entails being informed, without coercion and legally be able to give consent for themselves or a dependent. Consent grows in complexity when research uses protected individuals, these include those who would be too easily persuaded to take part out of duress, such as prisoners, or are unable to understand all important information to prepare a true competent choice such as those who are mentally incapacitated or young kids. The Willowbrook hepatitis studies involved a particularly vulnerable population as not only were the subjects young institutionalized children between the ages of five to ten. Research should not directly target these protected populations as subjects when it is possible to have individuals capable of giving uncoerced and informed consent under the concept of justice. The Belmont code best describes justice as the equal distribution of benefits and burdens by five formulations; equal share, by individual need, by individual effort, by societal contribution and
The justification is weak at best, Angell says, with researchers claiming that the placebo-group would not be receiving the necessary treatment anyway, so they are simply observing the natural manifestation of the infection in the mother and infant that would occur regardless of the study. Yet, if there is a shift in ethical reasoning from what is “best” to what is “local”, vulnerable populations will be open to further exploitation by researchers and the practice is ultimately a direct violation of the guidelines set forth by the various public and global health organizations which all require equal protection to that received in the sponsoring nation (848). The context of the study,
Due to the lack of money but the high demand of need of specific regimens in developing countries, researchers from developed countries are allowed to conduct trials on those citizens. In this article, Baruch Brody argues against moral criticisms given towards clinical trials in developing countries. His three arguments are the subjects weren’t treated unjustly (following an appropriate standard of justice), the subjects weren’t coerced (in terms of any plausible interpretation of the word), and the subjects weren’t being exploited (if they themselves gain access to the treatment after the study).
The title: “The Invisible Cure” is, initially, somewhat misleading. There is no known cure for HIV/AIDS, but Epstein details the struggles of Sub-Saharan African nations to come to terms with the tragedy that is destroying their people and the preventative measures that might be able to save them. The “invisible cure” is not a medical solution, but a social one. The invisible cure is a mixture of education, particularly sexual education, medical access, and social change. The reduction of long-term consecutive partnerships, the social and economic liberation of women, the community support systems that empower women as a community rather than as individuals, the combating of misinformation and myth; all are aspects of the “cure” for HIV/AIDS. Anti-retroviral medications can prolong the lives of HIV positive people, community support and therapy can help them lead normal lives and come to terms with their disease, but we have not yet
“The Verdict” is a movie that deals with medical and legal ethics. Frank Gavin is an alcoholic who hasn’t won any of his cases in the past three years. Mickey, his former partner, gives him a medical malpractice case that is sure to settle for a large amount of money. The case of Deborah Ann Kay, a mother who was given anesthetic when she had just eaten inhaled her vomit and is now in a coma. The Donaheys, her sister and brother in law are hoping for a good settlement and Frank assures them that they have a strong case. While the case is going on he meets Laura, a woman at a bar who he falls in love with. Frank goes to visit Deborah Ann Kay in the hospital and is affected by her condition. He meets with the defendants who run the
In The Invisible Cure, Helen Epstein talks about why HIV/AIDS rate is so high in Africa compared to the rest of the world. Through the book, she gives us an account of the disease and the struggles that many health experts and ordinary Africans went through to understand this disease, and how different African countries approached the same problem differently. Through this paper, I will first address the different ways Uganda and Southern African countries, South Africa and Botswana in particular, dealt with this epidemic, and then explain how we can use what we have learned from these African countries to control outbreaks of communicable disease elsewhere around the world.
A 35-year-old man named Paul, who has a supportive wife and two adventurous kids, has been diagnosed with a very severe case of bone cancer for 1 year now. Since this type of cancer is so severe, chemotherapy is starting to not work as well. Paul’s oncologist unfortunately had to suggest a final option for Paul to try which was a clinical research trial. Clinical research trials are experimental studies that deem whether or not a medical drug, treatment, surgery, or device is safe and beneficial for humans to use ("National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute"). As explained in Marcia Angell’s Article, “The Ethics of Clinical Research in the Third World”, the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Health Organization (WHO) provides a guideline
I will also list approaches to help fight against HIV/AIDs. It has been looked upon for years on how African
Africa has a history of facing many challenges, including starvation, poverty, Ebola and AIDS. AIDS, however, has become Africa’s biggest hurdle. Botswana, located in Southern Africa, has been hit the hardest by the AIDS virus with over 23% of its population contracting AIDS. In order to help fix the AIDS epidemic in Botswana, multiple things need to be reviewed, such as understanding how AIDS spread throughout Botswana, where the region currently stands on the AIDS virus, and the three solutions on how to prevent the rise in the spreading of the virus within the area. According to the website Avert, studies have shown that the most effective ways to help stop the spread of AIDS includes testing centers, intervention centers, and the distribution of more protective measures.
Although ninety-five percent of people living with HIV/AIDS are in developing countries, the impact of this epidemic is global. In South Africa, where one in four adults are living with the disease, HIV/AIDS means almost certain death for those infected. In developed countries however, the introduction of antiretroviral drugs has meant HIV/AIDS is treated as a chronic condition rather than a killer disease. In developing countries like South Africa, the drugs that allow people to live with the disease elsewhere in the world, are simply too expensive for individuals and governments to afford at market price.
There are an immense amount of problems in Africa caused by the AIDS disease. Healthcare providers are available and located all over Africa. Even though they are available, they have only “enough medicine for long-term survival available for 30,000 Africans” (Copson, 3).
Thousands of people voluntarily enroll in clinical drug trials every year. They are putting their health and safety at risk by participating in a drug trial. One would think they would be doing this to promote medical advancement, but in all actuality, it is for the high dollar amounts they receive for compensation. People that frequently enroll in drug trials are often called “guinea pigs.” The monetary amount people are paid can go as high seventy-five hundred dollars. The more invasive the procedure is the higher the compensation. These “Guinea pigs” are required to pay taxes on the money they do make. (Elliott, 2008)
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS is a pandemic problem affecting global health. At the end of 2015, 36.7 million people were living with HIV/AIDS globally. The rate of incidence is more prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa with almost 1 in every 24 adults living with HIV/AIDS. In the united states, HIV/AIDS is a diversified health problem affecting all sexes, ages and races and involving the transmission of multiple risk behavior. However, with the introduction of various prevention programs and antiretroviral drugs, the incidence of HIV/AIDS has reduced.
solutions to the problem which will be discussed. The topic is the AIDS epidemic in
Just as clearly, experience shows that the right approaches, applied quickly enough with courage and resolve, can and do result in lower HIV infection rates and less suffering for those affected by the epidemic. An ever-growing AIDS epidemic is not inevitable; yet, unless action against the epidemic is scaled up drastically, the damage already done will seem minor compared with what lies ahead. This may sound dramatic, but it is hard to play down the effects of a disease that stands to kill more than half of the young adults in the countries where it has its firmest hold—most of them before they finish the work of caring for their children or providing for their elderly parents. Already, 18.8 million people around the world have died of AIDS, 3.8 million of them children. Nearly twice that many—34.3 million—are now living with HIV, the virus [9].