"The health trial by researchers at the University of Southern Denmark has been suspended by Bissau-Guinean authorities. Danish researchers were set to begin a controversial United States-funded vaccine trial on newborns in the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau last month when public outrage derailed their plans. The scientists wanted to assess the effects of administering hepatitis B vaccines at two separate times on 14,000 babies."
"I was disappointed, to say the least, that my country could have approved a study of that kind, Magda Robalo, a former Guinea-Bissau health minister, told Al Jazeera on a video call from the capital, Bissau. While a small ethics committee within the health ministry knew about the study, the country's national public health institute, which would approve such a monumental experiment, was not informed, she said. [The researchers] took advantage of the fact that Guinea-Bissau does not have a very strong research capacity a very strong critical mass of public health professionals, very well vested in understanding what the politics that surround global health are, she added with a pained expression."
"Because of their weaker immune systems, babies are at the highest risk of being chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV), which spreads through body fluids, and can lead to long-term liver damage and cancer. In most cases, mothers carrying the virus pass it on to their infants during birth or through breastfeeding."
Guinea-Bissau authorities suspended a planned hepatitis B vaccine trial led by researchers from the University of Southern Denmark after public and expert outrage. The randomized study would have enrolled 14,000 newborns to compare health outcomes over five years between infants receiving the hepatitis B vaccine at birth and those receiving it six weeks later. The suspension followed scrutiny of ethical procedures and concerns that national public health authorities were not properly informed. A former health minister expressed disappointment and said researchers exploited weak local research capacity. Newborns face high HBV transmission risk from infected mothers and can develop chronic infection, liver damage, and cancer.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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