Cambodian sex workers seek insurance for HIV study — report

PHNOM PENH — Sex workers in Cambodia say they might opt out of a Bill Gates-funded study to test an HIV prevention drug if they don't get insurance that covers potential side effects, a newspaper reported Friday.

Health authorities were recruiting 960 sex workers in Cambodia to participate in a one-year study of the drug, tenofovir DF, already used globally as an approved HIV treatment, the Phnom Penh Post reported. But the Women's Network for Unity, a prostitutes' group, is worried about the side effects of taking the drug for prevention purposes. When taken for treatment, the side effects — which don't happen often — are mostly nausea, diarrhea and vomiting.

The women's network wants insurance to cover side effects from taking the drug for up to 30 years after the study. They're planning a conference Monday to discuss participating. "If the drug manufacturer doesn't give us insurance...we won't agree to take the drug," the Post quoted an unidentified spokesperson for the group as saying.

Members of the Women's Network for Unity couldn't immediately be reached for comment. Cambodia has Southeast Asia's highest HIV infection rate, though it has dropped from 3.8% in 1997 to 2.6% in 2002. Cambodia was chosen for the prevention drug test due to its high HIV rates, the report quoted Vonthanak Saphonn, a researcher for the National Center for HIV/AIDS, as saying. Participants would receive free health care during the study and would be closely monitored, he said.

The project is part of the US$6.5 million grant given by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to Family Health International for studies in several nations to test a drug for reducing the HIV infection risk among sexually active adults regularly exposed to the virus. Although condoms help prevent the spread of viruses, it is sometimes difficult for women to ensure that their partners use them, and the drug may prove to be an alternative, according to the foundation. Tenofovir DF is marketed as VireadR.