Navrongo Traditional Council refute allegations

Navrongo, Aug 5, GNA - The chiefs and people of the Navrongo Traditional Area have said the experiment conducted at the Navrongo Health Research Centre was beneficial to the people and they were well informed about all the processes.

A statement read on behalf of the Traditional Council by a representative of Navro-Pio, Arthur Balinia Wekem, on Wednesday said before the project started the chiefs and people were consulted and several durbars were held to educate them about the project.

They were reacting to allegations made by Maame Yaa Busumtwi, a Public Health Specialist and former employee of Columbia University, USA, who accused Dr James Philips of Columbia University of research fraud done under the 'Navrongo Experiment' at the Navrongo Health Research Centre.

She accused Dr Philips, who was the Principal Researcher, of not providing the women used in the research with Informed Consent Forms that would have explained to them what they were getting involved in, including the side effects of the family planning method that was used in the experiment.

The statement said the centre told them that nurses would be sent to rural communities to render general health services including family planning service.

Consequently, nurses were moved from the normal health facilities to reside in the rural areas to render basic health services to the rural people who stay far away from health facilities.

It said as part of the community's contribution to the project, the community members formed an advisory committee dubbed "Yezura Nakwa" that oversaw the activities of the nurses and the community health volunteers who were selected by the community and trained for the purpose of the project.

Houses were built and security was provided by the community for the nurses to stay and that was because of the benefits the area was deriving from the project.

The statement said women between ages 15 and 49 who benefited from the project were interviewed annually to evaluate the impact of the project and that was usually done through consultations with the chiefs and community members.

During the research, officers monitored general health issues that included family planning, contraceptive use, reproductive health beliefs, motives and preferences.

The statement said the chiefs and people who were collaborators on the project witnessed no case of abuse or inappropriate treatment of the people.

It said the community was satisfied with the conduct of all those who were involved in implementing the study and that the results of the Navrongo Experiment had a very great impact on the lives of the people in the area.

The statement said the claims by Maame Yaa Busumtwi were unfounded and should be dismissed as something of her imagination.

"We are aware that Maame Yaa Bosomtwe has an issue with some people who may be associated with the Navrongo Experiment. However, we do not agree with her distortion of the Navrongo Experiment" it added.

Ms Busumtwi said she did not have anything negative against the research centre and that her problem was only with Dr Philips who should have gone by the ethics of research.