The Importance of Blood Is Infinite: Conceptions of Blood as Life Force, Rumours and Fear of Trial Participation in a Fulani Village in Rural Gambia.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Clinical trials require high levels of participation and low drop-out rates to be successful. However, collecting blood samples from individuals recruited into clinical trials can be challenging when there is reticence about blood-taking. In addition to concerns regarding the feasibility of medical research, fears of 'blood-stealing' and 'blood-selling' have ethical implications related to cultural sensitivity and informed consent. This study explores anxieties around blood-taking during a malaria treatment trial in the Gambia.

Methods

This case study is based on ethnographic research in one theoretically selected village due to the high reticence to screening for the clinical trial 'Primaquine's gametocytocidal efficacy in malaria asymptomatic carriers treated wi

SUBMITTER: O'Neill S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4985146 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature