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Agreed with the comments thus far and with Mitchell Warren's articulate quote at the end of the article. That should be the title of the article - "Now we need to listen to what they are saying and design prevention options based on a better understanding of their reproductive and sexual health needs and desires" and not furthering the stigma that women and HIV+ people are to blame.
Just because researchers choose to put themselves in the best possible light when they present data does not mean OUR community media should take their framing without question! AIDSmeds should not use such an unbalanced headline for this article.
I agree with Laurel, the title makes one believe women are not able to adhere. Did the researchers take into account, involve women when developing research methods, we have different needs than men. Study methods are not interchangeable. But don't blame women for lack of adherence for failure.
â??Biomedical tools do not work in a vacuum but rather in the complex realities of womenâ??s and girlsâ?? livesâ? is indeed true, but surely it's also true, or likely to be, that people take part best in trials they have been involved in from trial-concept onwards. Looks to me that these women were only ever regarded as 'subjects' not as autonomous people who could help plan, shape, deliver the trial.
"A lack of adherence, and not the methods themselves, was to blame for the trialâ??s failure."??!! Last time I checked, a study's methods also encompass the inclusion or exclusion of the target population in study design, as well as some quantity of measures--in thie case, zero--for promoting adherence. Hence, it's more like the researchers and their funders failed the women who were unable to adhere optimally to the prescribed regimen.
I agree with Ms. Sprague. I believe that is was more a failure to be realistic on the part of the researchers in what they expected the subjects to be able to reproduce in a real world setting.
Could this be titled differently please? Instead of blaming women for "lack of adherence," let's follow Mitchell's example in the article and recognize that the researchers have failed women here. They have spent untold amounts of money on interventions that were not grounded in women's needs and realities and therefore did not work when taken out of the lab.
Laurel Sprague
Thanks very much to the AIDS meds team for listening to our concerns. It's good to know our community media cares about our community feedback!
March 8, 2013 • Ann Arbor