Introduction

In line with the University's vision, the Bioethics Group of Aga Khan University is initiating Master in Bioethics in 2008 sponsored through a training grant from the Fogarty International Centre of the National Institutes of Health, USA . This grant covers the expenses of twenty students (8 students from Karachi , 8 from the rest of Pakistan and 4 from resource poor countries covered by the World Health Organization's Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO).

Graduates of the programme are expected to play a leading role in the field of bioethics by their contribution in research and clinical ethics, bioethics education and health policy analysis.

Objectives of the Programme
The main objective of this educational activity is to develop expertise in Bioethics in Pakistan and in resource poor countries covered by the World Health Organization's Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO).

After completing the programme, it is expected that the graduates would be able to:

• Relate philosophical underpinning of ethical discourses from Muslim and Western approaches to moral philosophies;
• Identify and recommend solutions for ethical dilemmas in research involving human participants;
• Identify and provide solutions to ethical dilemmas encountered in clinical practice;
• Establish and be a resource for research ethics and clinical ethics review committees in their own institutions;
• Develop a bioethics curriculum and teach bioethics at undergraduate and postgraduate level;
• Analyse health-related policies in line with an ethics framework;
• Analyse the ethical issues in clinical and research settings from a human rights perspective;
• Conduct research on bioethics.

Employment Opportunities for Graduates
The employment opportunities for the graduates would be in medical/nursing/allied health academic institutions, tertiary care hospital and research organisations.