CAMEROON: AIDS drug trial on sex workers suspended

Trials testing the efficacy of the anti-AIDS drug, Viread, have been suspended in Cameroon, amid concerns that the participating sex workers were encouraged to have unprotected sex.

At least 400 prostitutes have been involved in the tests since 2003, with no guarantee of medical care if they became infected with HIV. Local activists have called for greater clarity on the issue.

The Associated Press quoted Arthur Noumbi of the advocacy group, Elite Polytechnicienne, as saying: "We know that the women who accept to participate in this experiment will certainly become [infected], yet there is no promise of antiretroviral drugs for the participants at the end of the exercise."

Theme (s): Care/Treatment - PlusNews,

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]