Question

Do you think the AZT Trials in Uganda were morally justified? Defend your answer. If not, what would you do if you were in Bagenda's shoes?

Answer 1

AZT is the brand name of the drug called zidovudine. At present the study 076 is being done in 15 developing countries for the prenatal treatment of HIV for pregnant women. Actually there is a possibility of 25% a HIV positive mother to transmit the virus into the foetus. So in order it control this AZT is used. Here the process is the mother is treated for 12 weeks from the end of first Trimester of pregnancy and continued to the infant for 4-6 weeks . This is just a brief description of the process. Now this takes nearly $1000 US for a single patient. But in developing and poor countries like African countries where the average medical spending is only$3 it makes impossible to use this method (atleast what the researchers say).

Coming to the trials of Uganda the researchers used placebo AZT method . Placebo is commonly termed as sugar pills or fake medicine , where the pill doesn't have any therapeutic value but it creates the sense in the patient to think that they have been given the drug and they feel safe . This is used in psychiatry mostly where people are made to believe that they are safe for treatment. Actually this is good in some cases as mentioned like psychiatry and some normal diseases. Our body is controlled by the nervous system and it is the agony and fear of the patient that makes the diseases worst than the disease causing agent itself . Most of the time our will power can miraculously cure the situation. But coming to the trails of Uganda using this placebo is widely regarded as unethical as placebo insist on making the patient know about the process which is not known happening in Uganda. The remedy for stating that the people can't afford the cost of the medicines the UNAIDS with WHO should fund the project and create awareness about the possible ways to avoid HIV infection and transmission.