BMJ 1999;319:1496 ( 4 December )

Letters

North-South research in developing countries must respond to community's priorities

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR---Edejer observes that North-South research collaboration is plagued by differing interpretations of ethical standards of doing research in developing countries, an example being the controversy over the Bangkok trial of short course zidovudine for perinatal transmission of HIV-1.1

One aspect of this controversy concerned the standard of care offered to patients participating in the study: should it be the best current treatment in the country of the sponsoring institution or the best local treatment? Médecins sans Frontières provides primary health care to patients with AIDS in Thailand and has reported that for one patient participating in the Bangkok trial no treatment of her symptomatic HIV infection was offered by the study hospital.2 It seems that neither side in the ethical debate was in touch with the real situation.

Two key documents to be considered are the Declaration of Helsinki and a set of guidelines developed by the Council . . . [Full text of this article]
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Relevant Article

North-South research partnerships: the ethics of carrying out research in developing countries
Tessa Tan-Torres Edejer
BMJ 1999 319: 438-441. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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