Blog 7 African Trial of H.I.V Drug Fails

Scientists reported failure in a large African trial of three different ways to protect women against H.I.V. The failure was not due to the methods of prevention which were  two different pills and a vaginal gel, but to the fact that the women did not use the methods consistently. The study followed more than 5,000 women in South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Although almost all the women in the study made their monthly clinic visits and the majority of the women said they were using the pill or gel, blood tests suggested that only twenty- five percent of the women actually were.

The article was flawed in that it did not mention any specific reasons as to why the women did not use the pills or vaginal gel to protect them from H.I.V.  This disease is a major global issue especially in the African countries in which they carried out the study and there may be some underlying issues as to why they did not use the prevention methods, other than they did not desire to. Prevention methods would be greatly beneficial to Africa and it would seem that there would have been more participation from the women in the study. Perhaps further investigation as to why the women did not use the prevention methods will yield better results for the next study.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/05/health/african-trial-of-hiv-drugs-fails.html?ref=health&_r=0

Bria Gill
3/7/13
3:53