Social stigma, genetic services, and South Africa: is testing taboo?
Caitlin Ching Sent, Brendon Pearce · 2026
Read Social stigma, genetic services, and South Africa: is testing taboo? by Caitlin Ching Sent, Brendon Pearce (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13156387.txt.
Description
Caitlin Ching Sent and Brendon Pearce review barriers to genetic testing in South Africa in two thousand twenty-six. Testing and counselling can power preventive, personalized care, yet uptake across Africa stays low. South Africa offers services, but access and public education are limited, and distrust of the health system runs deep after a history of inequality and marginalization.
Distance and cost could be tackled by government, the authors argue, but stigma needs study first. They gather the barriers, from suspicion of Western medicine to fears around providers, into one overarching theme: stigma, especially where it overlaps with other forms of exclusion. The review names the key unknowns that future research should fill before heavy spending on infrastructure.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Caitlin Ching Sent, Brendon Pearce |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 40 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |