THE EXPERIMENT MUST CONTINUE
PERSPECTIVES ON GLOBAL HEALTH
Series editor: James L. A. Webb, Jr.
The History of Blood Transfusion in Sub-Saharan Africa, by William H. Schneider
Global Health in Africa: Historical Perspectives on Disease Control, edited by Tamara Giles-Vernick and James L. A. Webb, Jr.
Preaching Prevention: Born-Again Christianity and the Moral Politics of AIDS in Uganda, by Lydia Boyd
The Experiment Must Continue: Medical Research and Ethics in East Africa, 1940–2014, by Melissa Graboyes
THE EXPERIMENT MUST CONTINUE
Medical Research and Ethics in East Africa, 1940–2014
Melissa Graboyes
Ohio University Press
Athens
Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701
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Cover image: Uncataloged archival materials at Amani Medical Research Station, Amani, Tanzania, 2008. Photo by author.
Cover design by Beth Pratt.
Printed in the United States of America
Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Graboyes, Melissa, author.
The experiment must continue : medical research and ethics in East Africa, 1940/2014 / Melissa Graboyes.
p. ; cm. — (Perspectives on global health)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8214-2172-7 (hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8214-2173-4 (pb : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8214-4534-1 (pdf)
I. Title. II. Series: Perspectives on global health.
[DNLM: 1. Biomedical Research—history—Africa, Eastern. 2. Anthropology, Cultural—history—Africa, Eastern. 3. Biomedical Research—ethics—Africa, Eastern. 4. History, 20th Century—Africa, Eastern. 5. History, 21st Century—Africa, Eastern. 6. Human Experimentation—history—Africa, Eastern. W 20.5]
R850
610.72'4—dc23
2015034120
Dedicated to each of my families.
My parents and sister, who model and respect hard work
My large Italian family, acquired by luck of marriage
My own piccola famiglia, Alfredo, Silvia, and Giovanna.
CONTENTS
ONE. Medical Research Past and Present
TWO. East African Perceptions of Medical Research
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE: “Inspeakable Entomologists”
H. H. Goiny and a Failed Attempt to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis, Pate Island, Kenya, 1956
MODERN NARRATIVE: A “Remarkable Achievement”?
Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination, Zanzibar, 2001
THREE. First Encounters, First Impressions
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE: “Forced to Accept Trial Treatment”?
A Tuberculosis Drug Trial, Nairobi, Kenya, 1961
MODERN NARRATIVE: Focusing on Fieldworkers in Kilifi, Kenya
FOUR. Ethical Recruitment and Gathering Human Subjects
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE: Hope Trant and a Compound on Fire in Tanganyika, 1954
MODERN NARRATIVE: A Male Circumcision Trial Canceled in Rakai, Uganda, 2005
FIVE. Finding an Ethical Balance
EXITS AND LONGER-TERM OBLIGATIONS
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE: “Almost Completely Eradicated”
The Pare-Taveta Malaria Scheme, 1955
MODERN NARRATIVE: A New Malaria Vaccine?