AIDS trials in Africa. Effective drugs for treating AIDS are very expensive, so most African nations cannot afford to give them to large numbers of people. Yet AIDS is more common in parts of Africa than anywhere else. A few clinical trials are looking at ways to prevent pregnant mothers infected with HIV from passing the infection to their unborn children, a major source of HIV infections in Africa. Some people say these trials are unethical because they do not give effective AIDS drugs to their subjects, as would be required in rich nations. Others reply that the trials are looking for treatments that can work in the real world in Africa and that they promise benefits at least to the children of their subjects. What do you think?

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