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Experts for
Ethical Guidelines to Prevent Exploitation in Developing Countries
A four-day symposium
and workshop on Ethical Issues in Health Research in Developing
Countries commenced with an inaugural session at Aga Khan University
(AKU) on
August 15, 2003
.
The symposium and workshop, organised by AKU's Ethical Review Committee
and Bioethics Group, invited speakers from Pakistan, India, United
Kingdom, Sri Lanka and South Africa, covering issues such as health
equity and ethics, standards and care, informed consent and the
ethical review process.
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| Participants
of the "Second Symposium and Workshop on Ethical Issues in Health
Research in Developing Countries" held at Aga Khan University
on 14-18 August 2003. |
In his keynote
address, Dr. Carel B. Ijsselmuiden, Director of the South African
Research Ethics Training Initiative,
University
of
Pretoria
, gave a brief
background to the ethical research process, tracing the history
leading to the establishment of ethical standards in health research
involving human subjects. He defined the key ethical principles
as being autonomy, that is, informed consent and confidentiality
of the people used as research subjects; minimising of risk and
maximising of benefits to the research subjects, and social justice.
He added that the tendency towards litigation in the west was among
the factors leading to the increased use of developing world subjects
for health research. He said that ethical standards should be reviewed
and defined to protect these subjects from exploitation and that
research should be responsive to the needs of the country where
it is conducted. "Benefits too should be shared with the home country,"
he added.
Dr. Shamsh Kassim-Lakha,
H.I., S.I., President of AKU, said, "Ethics are too important
to be left to academics alone. We should involve other segments
of society, including communities, cultural and political thinkers
and government decision-makers in order to respect cultural and
religious sensitivities."
Earlier in his
welcome address, Dr. Aamer M. Jafarey, Chairman of the Organising
Committee and Consultant General Surgeon in the Department of Surgery
at AKU, said that research ethics are necessary to prevent the possibility
of exploitation. "Ethical guidelines are there to minimize the risk
of exploitation by ensuring that subjects and communities are treated
fairly and equitably while they contribute to the good of the society
at large," he added.
The symposium
and workshop under way also include group discussions and question-and-answer
sessions, aiming at preparing researchers for contributing to the
development of national guidelines in health research in
Pakistan
,
and developing capacity and understanding of ethical issues in health
research in general with a special focus on developing countries.
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