Clinical Trials in Sub-Saharan Africa and Established Standards of Care

Research in developing countries: problems and solutions

“…Health care research in the developing world raises specific ethical questions driven by the different cultural, economic and socio-political factors [4][5][6]. Participants in internationally funded projects, usually with a very serious and grossly unequal burden of disease, receive the standard of health care available in the funding country, the moral principle of ''universal standard of care''.…”

Usual and Unusual Care

“…For example, RCTs conducted in sub-Saharan Africa to test treatments for tuberculosis tend to provide a high standard of tuberculosis care to control participants, while trials targeting AIDS usually do not provide state-of-the-art HIV care to control participants. (63)…”

HIV Type 1 Drug Resistance in Adults Receiving Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

“…4 With the commitment of the international community to increase HIV prevention and care, 5 HIV treatment has become increasingly accessible in Africa. 6 Due to the efforts of the Global Fund AIDS, TB, and Malaria, the U.S. President's emergency plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and numerous nongovernmental organizations and governmental programs, many developing countries are now scaling up access to antiretroviral therapy (ART). [7][8][9] Indeed, by the end of 2006, an estimated two million HIV-infected patients were receiving HAART in low-and middle-income countries.…”