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AIDS drug trial on sex workers suspended

    JOHANNESBURG

    Trials testing the efficacy of the anti-AIDS drug, Viread, have been suspended in Cameroon, amid concerns that the participating sex workers were encouraged to have unprotected sex.

    At least 400 prostitutes have been involved in the tests since 2003, with no guarantee of medical care if they became infected with HIV. Local activists have called for greater clarity on the issue.

    The Associated Press quoted Arthur Noumbi of the advocacy group, Elite Polytechnicienne, as saying: "We know that the women who accept to participate in this experiment will certainly become [infected], yet there is no promise of antiretroviral drugs for the participants at the end of the exercise."

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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