Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39678390›Full record

ArticlePublic health ethics2024

Ethics of Mathematical Modeling in Public Health: The Case of Medical Male Circumcision for HIV Prevention in Africa.

Stuart Rennie, Sara Levintow, Adam Gilbertson, Winnie Kavulani Luseno

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PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Public health ethics, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Stuart RennieDepartment of Social Medicine and Center for Bioethics, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Sara LevintowDepartment of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Adam GilbertsonPacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE), Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Winnie Kavulani LusenoPacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE), Chapel Hill, NC, USA.

Funding

Virology, Immunology, and Microbiology CoreP30AI050410 · NIAID · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI DAVID M. MARGOLIS · 2001 to 2026
$76.9M
Ethics of HIV-Related Research Involving Adolescents in KenyaR01MH102125 · NIMH · PACIFIC INSTITUTE FOR RES AND EVALUATION · PI LUSENO, WINFRED K · 2014 to 2018
$3.7M
NIAID NIH HHS P30 AI050410NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH102125
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Mathematical modelling has played an increasingly prominent role in public health responses, for example by offering estimates of how infectious disease incidence over time may be affected by the adoption of certain policies and interventions. In this paper, we call for greater research and reflection into the ethics of mathematical modeling in public health. First, we present some promising ways of framing the ethics of mathematical modeling that have been offered in the very few publications specifically devoted to this subject. Second, to draw out some issues that have not yet been sufficiently considered, we bring in the case of mathematical modeling in voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) initiatives for HIV prevention in Africa. We argue that greater attention should be paid to ethical considerations in mathematical modeling, particularly as its use is becoming more widespread and its potential impacts are becoming greater in the 'big data' era, as witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Identifiers

PMID39678390
PMCPMC11638778

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.