HIV Vaccine Trial Criticized in Botswana
A Botswana human rights organization has criticized the government for not passing legislation to protect people participating in HIV vaccine trials.
Alice Mogwe, director of the Botswana Center for Human Rights, said there was little legal protection for trial participants, and the board set up to ensure safe, humane trials had no legal standing.
Experimental vaccine trials by the Botswana Harvard AIDS Partnership for HIV Research and Education began this year after successful tests on animals. The human immunodeficiency virus causes AIDS.
The study is scheduled to last 18 months and will involve 42 HIV-negative volunteers from the U.S. and Botswana.
Mogwe’s group belongs to the Community Advisory Board, established by the partnership to ensure that the trials respect the human rights, dignity and safety of participants.
Scientists have been searching for an effective vaccine against AIDS for more than 20 years. More than 30 experimental vaccines have been tested with little success.
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