HIV testing programs in the United States aim to reach ethnic minority populations who experience high incidence of HIV, yet 40% of African Americans have never been tested for HIV. The objective of this study is to identify community-based strategies to increase testing among African Americans in both urban and rural areas.

Web scraping involves using computer programs for automated extraction and organization of data from the Web for the purpose of further data analysis and use. It is frequently used by commercial companies, but also has become a valuable tool in epidemiological research and public health planning. In this paper, we explore ethical issues in a … Read more

In a resource limited environment, universities may increasingly need to conceive themselves as ‘brands’ and to mobilize capitalist marketing strategies to enhance institutional reputations. Between 1994 and July 2018, 24% of accredited United States public health schools were renamed for private donors. We suggest branding public health schools with private names carries ethical risks, including … Read more

Public voices have largely been absent from the discussions about open access publishing in medical research. Yet the public have a strong interest in ensuring open access of medical research findings because of their roles as funders, advocates, research participants, and patients. By limiting access to research outputs, the current publishing system makes it more … Read more

Community engagement is widely acknowledged as an important step in clinical trials. One underexplored method for engagement in clinical trials is crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing involves having community members attempt to solve a problem and then publicly sharing innovative solutions. We designed and conducted a pilot using a crowdsourcing approach to obtain community feedback on an HIV … Read more

We are living in an era of “big data,” which is characterized by tremendous growth in data production, linkage, and analysis. This growth is shifting the landscape of possible opportunities and harms for public health research and practice, particularly for those affected by mass incarceration. We briefly examine the emerging role and ethical implications of … Read more

The role of money in health research has been debated in bioethics for many years, particularly with regard to resource-poor settings and populations. Much of the debate has focused on two key stakeholders in the research enterprise: research ethics committees and research participants. Research ethics committees, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, often do not … Read more

Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) provides significant reductions in the risk of female-to-male HIV transmission. Since 2007, VMMC has been a key component of the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief’s (PEPFAR) strategy to mitigate the HIV epidemic in countries with high HIV prevalence and low circumcision rates. To ensure intended effects, PEPFAR … Read more

Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) provides significant reductions in the risk of female-to-male HIV transmission. Since 2007, VMMC has been a key component of the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief’s (PEPFAR) strategy to mitigate the HIV epidemic in countries with high HIV prevalence and low circumcision rates. To ensure intended effects, PEPFAR … Read more

Background: Africa is increasingly becoming an important region for health research, mainly due to its heavy burden of disease, socioeconomic challenges, and inadequate health facilities. Regulatory capacities, in terms of ethical review processes, are also generally weak. The ethical assessment of social and behavioral research is relatively neglected compared to the review of biomedical and … Read more