BACKGROUND Abortion is a controversial yet common procedure within the United States and North Carolina. Although much effort has been directed at understanding the views of physicians and the general public, the views of medical students on abortion are understudied. This study examines the views of medical students at different stages in training on abortion … Read more

Traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine (TCAM) has been used by some people living with HIV (PLHIV) in an attempt to cure HIV. This article reviews the main factors influencing their decision to choose TCAM to cure HIV and discusses implications for HIV cure research. Those who decide to pursue traditional, complementary, and alternative medical cures … Read more

In a recent trip to Kenya, Professor Stuart Rennie visited the capital city of Nairobi with the purpose of participating in and presenting a paper at the 2nd Annual Kenya Bioethics Society conference. The paper was entitled ‘Perceptions of benefit among research participants in Kenya: ethical implications’, and is based on a qualitative research study led … Read more

In an essay, Karine Dubé and coauthors discuss the ethics of preclinical and clinical studies relevant to achieving an HIV cure.

Though antiretroviral therapy is the standard of care for people living with HIV, its treatment limitations, burdens, stigma and costs lead to continued interest in HIV cure research. Early-phase cure trials, particularly those that include analytic treatment interruption (ATI), involve uncertain and potentially high risk, with minimal chance of clinical benefit. Some question whether such … Read more

Objectives The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using a crowdsourcing contest to promote HIV cure research community engagement. Methods Crowdsourcing contests are open calls for community participation to achieve a task, in this case to engage local communities about HIV cure research. Our contest solicited images and videos of what … Read more

Chattopadhyay and colleagues basically present two lines of argument in regard to access to bioethics journals by those working in this field in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The first is a harm-based argument: poor access to bioethics literature in leading journals causes harm parallel to the harm that lack of poor access to medical … Read more

Early-phase HIV cure research is conducted against a background of highly effective antiretroviral therapy, and involves risky interventions in individuals who enjoy an almost normal life expectancy. To explore perceptions of three ethical topics in the context of HIV cure research-(a) equipoise, (b) risk-benefit ratios, and (c) “otherwise healthy volunteers”-we conducted 36 in-depth interviews (IDIs) … Read more

Traditional male circumcision is a deeply entrenched cultural practice in South Africa. In recent times, there have been increasing numbers of botched circumcisions by untrained and unscrupulous practitioners, leading to genital mutilation and often, the need for penile amputation. Hailed as a world’s first, a team of surgeons conducted the first successful penile transplant in … Read more

Assessment of benefits is traditionally regarded as crucial to the ethical evaluation of research involving human participants. We conducted focus group discussions (FGDs) with health and other professionals engaged with adolescents, caregivers/parents, and adolescents in Siaya County, Kenya, to solicit opinions about appropriate ways of conducting HIV research with adolescents. Our data revealed that many … Read more