How will the safety and rights of participants be protected?
Trial participants play a very important role in the search for an HIV vaccine and the safety and rights of participants are given the highest priority. This trial meets international standards for ethical research that were created by the Helsinki Declaration of the World Medical Association and Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS) guidelines. During the study, all of the data is reviewed by a Safety Monitoring Board. This group of experts can stop the study at any time if they feel that the risks for participants are too great. Additionally, every study location works with an Institutional Review Board (IRB) that reviews all of the details of the trial. IRBs also make certain that the rights of participants are protected. ARA has its own, independent IRB comprised of community volunteers. Follow this link for information about ARA’s IRB. Before they join the trial, volunteers are provided with information about HIV and AIDS, the reasons for the trial, p
