AIDS trials in Africa. One of the most important goals of AIDS research is to find a vaccine that will protect against HIV. Because AIDS is so common in parts of Africa, that is the easiest place to test a vaccine. It is likely, however, that a vaccine would be so expensive that it could not (at least at first)

be widely used in Africa. Is it ethical to test in Africa if the benefits go mainly to rich countries? The treatment group of subjects would get the vaccine, and the placebo group would later be given the vaccine if it proved effective. So the actual subjects would benefit—it is the future benefits that would go elsewhere.

What do you think?

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