Raising Ethical Questions about HIV/AIDS Research in Africa

Stephanie Nolen writes in today's Globe and Mail:

Salome Simon has slept with almost 50,000 men since Canadian-led researchers discovered she's one of those amazing Nairobi prostitutes whose immunity to HIV could be the key to beating AIDS. Two decades later, with no cure in sight, she's still a medical guinea pig but also a grandmother who is tired of plying her trade.

This is an interesting and disturbing article about research that is a bit unimaginable in North America (although conditions that would facilitate this kind of research are also a bit unimaginable in the West). Obviously the research is important, but the fact that participants seem to be offered so little by Western-based researchers is scary, but I guess not surprising.

Globe and Mail – Sex Slaves for Science

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