Publications

Involving vulnerable pediatric populations in international research requires culturally appropriate ethical protections. We sought to use mabaraza, traditional East African community assemblies, to understand how a community in western Kenya viewed participation of children in health research and informed consent and assent processes. Results from 108 participants revealed generally positive attitudes towards involving vulnerable children in research, largely because they assumed children would directly benefit. Consent from parents or guardians was understood as necessary for participation while gaining child assent was not. They felt other caregivers, community leaders, and even community assemblies could participate in the consent process. Community members believed research involving orphans and street children could benefit these vulnerable populations, but would require special processes for consent.

INVOLVING VULNERABLE PEDIATRIC populations in international research requires culturally appropriate ethical protections. We sought to use mabaraza, traditional East African community assemblies, to understand how a community in western Kenya viewed participation of children in health research and informed consent and assent processes. Results from 108 participants revealed generally positive attitudes towards involving vulnerable children in research, largely because they assumed children would directly benefit. Consent from parents or guardians was understood as necessary for participation while gaining child assent was not. They felt other caregivers, community leaders, and even community assemblies could participate in the consent process. Community members believed research involving orphans and street children could benefit these vulnerable populations, but would require special processes for consent. © 2012 by Joan Sieber. All Rights Reserved.

This study investigates the determinants of net interest margin of commercial banks in Kenya using secondary data. We apply pooled and fixed effects regression to a panel of 44 Kenyan banks that covers the period 2000-2009. The estimation results show that operating expenses and credit risk has a positive and significant effect on net interest margin of the commercial banks in Kenya. The paper also finds that the higher the inflation, the wider the net interest margin, while growth and market concentration a have negative effect on net interest margin.