Standards of care in research

doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7475.1114

BMJ 2004;329:1114-1115 (13 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7475.1114

Editorial

Standards of care in research

Should reflect local conditions and not the best western standards

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

The interpretation of "standard of care" in research has generateda lot of controversy among researchers. It has underpinned muchof the debate on the use of placebos in randomised controlledtrials such as the one around the zidovudine trials, which wereproposed to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV infectionin Africa. These trials entailed an evaluation of a short coursetreatment regimen in comparison with a control population receivingnothing.^1-3 A high profile debate ensued that led to a reconsiderationof guidelines on international research as well and spurredinitiatives to make low cost antiretroviral treatment availablein developing countries.^4
5

In October 2000, the World Medical Association modified theHelsinki declaration to state that "the benefits, risks, burdensand effectiveness of a new method should be tested against thoseof the best current prophylactic, diagnostic, and therapeuticmethods."⁶ The Council for International Organizations of MedicalSciences . . . [Full text of this article]

Zulfiqar Bhutta, Husein Lalji Dewraj professor of paediatrics and child health

Aga Khan University, Karachi 74800, Pakistan (zulfiqar.bhutta@aku.edu)

CiteULike

Complore

Connotea

Del.icio.us Add to Digg

Digg

Technorati What's this?

Relevant Articles

Regulation of biomedical research in Africa: Sylvester C Chima
BMJ 2006 332: 848-851. [Full Text] [PDF]

Kangaroo Mother Care, an example to follow from developing countries: Juan Gabriel Ruiz-Peláez, Nathalie Charpak, and Luis Gabriel Cuervo
BMJ 2004 329: 1179-1181. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]