3.88 How many have HIV?

Researchers from Yale, working with medical teams in Tanzania, wanted to know how common infection with HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) is among pregnant women in that African country. To do this, they planned to test blood samples drawn from pregnant women.

Yale’s institutional review board insisted that the researchers get the informed consent of each woman and tell her the results of the test. This is the usual procedure in developed nations. The Tanzanian government did not want to tell the women why blood was drawn or tell them the test results. The government feared panic if many people turned out to have an incurable disease for which the country’s medical system could not provide care. The study was canceled. Do you think that Yale was right to apply its usual standards for protecting subjects?