Maravi

Trial of microbicide gel was not a failure – MDP

Trial of microbicide gel was not a failure – MDP
By Agness Changala
Wed 06 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT

MOCROBICIDE Development Programme (MDP) principal investigator Dr Maureen Chisembele has said the gel clinical trial that was conducted on women in Mazabuka and left 46 of them positive has come to an end, saying it does not work.

Featuring on Muvi Television programme entitled Matter at Hand, Dr Chisembele said the gel clinical trial was not to blame for the development as the women got infected as a result of the dynamics that are going on. She said the programme was not a failure because it gave the Zambians the results which showed that it does not work.

“This trial is not to blame, it’s not a failure because it has given us the results and it has shown that it does not work in preventing one from getting the HIV virus,” she said.

“After putting together the data from South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia where the clinical trials were carried out at the same time, we discovered that the gel does not work.”

She explained that her organisation administered the gel on HIV negative women and left to go and have sex with their partners whether married or not.

Dr Chisembele said that condoms were also given to them because the organisation was not sure if the gel would work or not.

“We used to ask them maybe at the end of the week when they come. We ask them if they had sex with a condom, gel or without and we gave them small diaries where they could record all that,” she said.

Dr Chisembele said some women took their partners forward for VCT while others did not.

“We had men come for VCT with their women and this was aimed at empowering the women because of their vulnerability and men’s altitude,” she said.

Dr Chisembele said men were also involved in the process through what she called in-depth interviews to get their views on the research.

Asked in whose interest the research was carried out, Dr Chisembele said the interest was to find a solution to HIV infections in Africa and other parts of the world.

Dr Chisembele said those infected had been linked to the local health services and Anti Retrial Viral (ARV) treatment, counseling and high standards of care.

She said there would be no compensation in form of any money but that those affected would be given the health standard that is needed for them to survive.

She said before the process started, it was clearly explained to the participants and that they knew what was at stake.

And reacting to concerns by one of the participants on the programme that the organization took advantage of the vulnerability and illiteracy levels of these women, Dr Chisembele said it was unfair to say that because despite them not being literate, they were intelligent enough to understand what was going on.

She said those saying the organization took advantage of the vulnerable women were also insulting their intelligence.

“We explained to them and they did understand and they knew what was at stake,” she said. “You speak to them in their language and we made sure they understood.”
Dr Chisembele said the programme faced criticism because it had failed.

“If this was a success, we would not have been here but we would have been somewhere celebrating saying Zambia was part of the success,” she said.
Dr Chisembele said her organisation had informed the government of its results and that it would able to tell the public its position.

Other countries where the clinical trial was under taken include Asia and England and that Department for International Development (DFID) is the funders of the project.

Labels: HIV/AIDS, MAUREEN CHISEMBELE

posted by MrK @ 3:39 PM