Anchoring health ethics and hiv/aids

This book is intended to address concerns about compliance with ethical standards in health, particularly in relation to HIV/AIDS. Health ethics is, of course, medical ethics and includes the ethics of care and health research. Indeed, there is no doubt that these standards exist but in various forms depending on the country. They are notably in the form of laws, ordinances, codes of medical ethics, policy statements as is the case in Canada, etc. These norms emphasise human dignity and aspects related to obtaining consent from research participants and patients, confidentiality and anonymity of medical records and other information collected, conflicts of interest of medical and research personnel, and their integrity. However, the degree to which these norms are rooted or embedded in the medical and research activities they are intended to regulate is sometimes weak, due to the low degree of adoption and ownership.