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Comparative strategic approaches to COVID-19 in Africa: Balancing public interest with civil liberties

September 29, 2020
As COVID-19 spreads rapidly across Africa, causing havoc to economies and disruption to already fragile healthcare systems, it is becoming clear that despite standardised global health strategies, national and local government responses must be tailored to their individual settings. Some African countries have adopted stringent measures such as national lockdown,...

Allocation of scarce resources in Africa during COVID‐19: Utility and justice for the bottom of the pyramid?

September 29, 2020
The COVID‐19 pandemic has raised important universal public health challenges. Conceiving ethical responses to these challenges is a public health imperative but must take context into account. This is particularly important in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA). In this paper, we examine how some of the ethical recommendations offered so far in...

Practical and Ethical Concerns in Implementing Enhanced Surveillance Methods to Improve Continuity of HIV Care: Qualitative Expert Stakeholder Study

September 16, 2020
Background: Retention in HIV care is critical to maintaining viral suppression and preventing further transmission, yet less than 50% of people living with HIV in the United States are engaged in care. All US states have a funding mandate to implement Data-to-Care (D2C) programs, which use surveillance data (eg, laboratory,...

Adolescent Perceptions about Participating in HIV-Related Research Studies.

September 1, 2020
The rising incidence of infection among youth in sub-Saharan Africa makes HIV-related research among younger people a top priority. There remains, however, a lack of consistent and unambiguous ethical principles and guidance for researchers wishing to conduct HIV studies with adolescents. The overarching aim of our research was to better...

Pathways to Depression and Poor Quality of Life Among Adolescents in Western Kenya: Role of Anticipated HIV Stigma, HIV Risk Perception, and Sexual Behaviors

August 3, 2020
Depression is a major cause of disease burden and is linked to poor quality of life (QOL) among adolescents. We examined the roles of sexual behaviors, HIV risk perception, and anticipated HIV stigma on depressive symptomatology and QOL among 4096 adolescents in a rural region of western Kenya with a...

What Could “Fair Allocation” during the Covid‐19 Crisis Possibly Mean in Sub‐Saharan Africa?

June 30, 2020
The Covid‐19 pandemic has sparked rapid and voluminous production of bioethics commentary in popular media and academic publications. Many of the discussions are new twists on an old theme: how to fairly allocate scarce medical resources, such as ventilators and intensive care unit beds. In this essay, we do not...

Parallel but connected: Nuances of conducting behavioral and social science research alongside ethically challenging HIV remission trials

June 25, 2020
Collaborations between clinical investigators and behavioral and social science researchers (BSSR) produce many benefits, but also may generate challenges and complexities. Ongoing relationships between teams may affect the research carried out by the BSSR team and the way they interpret their findings. Here we describe our experiences conducting the HIV...

Suicide Behaviour Among Adolescents in a High HIV Prevalence Region of Western Kenya: A Mixed-Methods Study

June 22, 2020
The study purpose was to determine the prevalence and determinants of suicidal thoughts and behaviours in a rural community sample of 15–19-year-old Kenyan adolescents in a region with high HIV burden. Data were from an observational study examining ethical issues in adolescent HIV research (N=4084). Participants reporting suicidal ideation were...

Impact of Implementing an Online Interactive Educational Tool for Future HIV “Cure” Research in an HIV Clinic Waiting Room in Cape Town, South Africa

May 22, 2020
Access to antiretroviral treatment (ART) in South Africa is suboptimal and erratic. For those on treatment, compliance remains a significant challenge. Interruptions to ART have negative implications for the individual and the epidemic. ART is therefore not a sustainable solution and there is an urgent need for a cure. As...

“‘Informed and Empowered’: A Mixed Method Study of Crowdsourcing Contests to Promote Uptake of HIV Self-Testing Kits among African Americans.

May 14, 2020
Objective: HIV self-testing (HIVST) kits are a viable alternative to testing in clinical settings, but research on the effective ways of promoting uptake of HI VST kits has been lacking. The present study examines crowdsourcing contests as community engagement to promote uptake of HI VST kits among African Americans in...