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Doctors and Vampires in Sub-Saharan Africa: Ethical Challenges in Clinical Trial Research

Collecting blood samples from individuals recruited into clinical research projects in sub-Saharan Africa can be challenging. Strikingly, one of the reasons for participant reticence is the occurrence of local rumors surrounding “blood stealing” or “blood selling.” Such fears can potentially have di...

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Autores principales: Peeters Grietens, Koen, Ribera, Joan Muela, Erhart, Annette, Hoibak, Sarah, Ravinetto, Raffaella M., Gryseels, Charlotte, Dierickx, Susan, O'Neill, Sarah, Muela, Susanna Hausmann, D'Alessandro, Umberto
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4125237/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24821846
http://dx.doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.13-0630
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author Peeters Grietens, Koen
Ribera, Joan Muela
Erhart, Annette
Hoibak, Sarah
Ravinetto, Raffaella M.
Gryseels, Charlotte
Dierickx, Susan
O'Neill, Sarah
Muela, Susanna Hausmann
D'Alessandro, Umberto
author_facet Peeters Grietens, Koen
Ribera, Joan Muela
Erhart, Annette
Hoibak, Sarah
Ravinetto, Raffaella M.
Gryseels, Charlotte
Dierickx, Susan
O'Neill, Sarah
Muela, Susanna Hausmann
D'Alessandro, Umberto
author_sort Peeters Grietens, Koen
collection PubMed
description Collecting blood samples from individuals recruited into clinical research projects in sub-Saharan Africa can be challenging. Strikingly, one of the reasons for participant reticence is the occurrence of local rumors surrounding “blood stealing” or “blood selling.” Such fears can potentially have dire effects on the success of research projects—for example, high dropout rates that would invalidate the trial's results—and have ethical implications related to cultural sensitivity and informed consent. Though commonly considered as a manifestation of the local population's ignorance, these rumors represent a social diagnosis and a logical attempt to make sense of sickness and health. Born from historical antecedents, they reflect implicit contemporary structural inequalities and the social distance between communities and public health institutions. We aim at illustrating the underlying logic governing patients' fear and argue that the management of these beliefs should become an intrinsic component of clinical research.
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spelling pubmed-41252372014-08-12 Doctors and Vampires in Sub-Saharan Africa: Ethical Challenges in Clinical Trial Research Peeters Grietens, Koen Ribera, Joan Muela Erhart, Annette Hoibak, Sarah Ravinetto, Raffaella M. Gryseels, Charlotte Dierickx, Susan O'Neill, Sarah Muela, Susanna Hausmann D'Alessandro, Umberto Am J Trop Med Hyg Perspective Piece Collecting blood samples from individuals recruited into clinical research projects in sub-Saharan Africa can be challenging. Strikingly, one of the reasons for participant reticence is the occurrence of local rumors surrounding “blood stealing” or “blood selling.” Such fears can potentially have dire effects on the success of research projects—for example, high dropout rates that would invalidate the trial's results—and have ethical implications related to cultural sensitivity and informed consent. Though commonly considered as a manifestation of the local population's ignorance, these rumors represent a social diagnosis and a logical attempt to make sense of sickness and health. Born from historical antecedents, they reflect implicit contemporary structural inequalities and the social distance between communities and public health institutions. We aim at illustrating the underlying logic governing patients' fear and argue that the management of these beliefs should become an intrinsic component of clinical research. The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 2014-08-06 /pmc/articles/PMC4125237/ /pubmed/24821846 http://dx.doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.13-0630 Text en ©The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Perspective Piece
Peeters Grietens, Koen
Ribera, Joan Muela
Erhart, Annette
Hoibak, Sarah
Ravinetto, Raffaella M.
Gryseels, Charlotte
Dierickx, Susan
O'Neill, Sarah
Muela, Susanna Hausmann
D'Alessandro, Umberto
Doctors and Vampires in Sub-Saharan Africa: Ethical Challenges in Clinical Trial Research
title Doctors and Vampires in Sub-Saharan Africa: Ethical Challenges in Clinical Trial Research
title_full Doctors and Vampires in Sub-Saharan Africa: Ethical Challenges in Clinical Trial Research
title_fullStr Doctors and Vampires in Sub-Saharan Africa: Ethical Challenges in Clinical Trial Research
title_full_unstemmed Doctors and Vampires in Sub-Saharan Africa: Ethical Challenges in Clinical Trial Research
title_short Doctors and Vampires in Sub-Saharan Africa: Ethical Challenges in Clinical Trial Research
title_sort doctors and vampires in sub-saharan africa: ethical challenges in clinical trial research
topic Perspective Piece
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4125237/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24821846
http://dx.doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.13-0630
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