What Makes Health Systems Research in Developing Countries Ethical? Application of the Emanuel Framework for Clinical Research to Health Systems Research

Boosting ethics review capacity in public health emergency situations: Co-creation of a training model for French-speaking research ethics committees

BACKGROUND

Ethics review preparedness is a major foundation for national effective response to public health emergencies, because it promotes pertinent research and enhances the protection of research participants and communities. In low-income countries, it can also promote equitable research partnership. However, most relevant literature is in English and not easily accessible for the members of research ethics committees in French-speaking African countries.

METHODS

A training module in French, addressing the issue of research ethics review during outbreaks and other public health emergencies, was designed based on a non-systematic literature review, and in order to be complementary to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) national guidelines for ethics review. The module was administered to 42 members of the five ethics committees in DRC that expressed their interest for the training.

RESULT

This training, co-designed with local stakeholders, in the local working language and taking into account local circumstances and regulation, provided participants with up-to-date insights of research ethics (and research ethics preparedness) in public health emergencies. It resulted in rich reflection and knowledge-sharing on good practices across the ethics committees.

CONCLUSION

As most participating ethics committees do not have yet explicit standard operating procedures for expedited review of protocols submitted in emergency situations, this would be a next important step to facilitate emergency reviews in the most efficient way.

Operationalizing the Ethical Review of Global Health Policy and Systems Research: A Proposed Checklist

There has been growing consensus to develop relevant guidance to improve the ethical review of global health policy and systems research (HPSR) and address the current absence of formal ethics guidance.

How to learn to love your research ethics committee: recommendations for psychologists

Ethics review of psychological and sociobehavioural research is increasingly required by leading South African research institutions and universities, following international trends, and national statutory developments. Local and international scholarly journals are also more routinely requesting proof of ethics approval before accepting empirical work for publication. In some instances, psychological researchers may regard ethics review as a process that imposes delays and adds little value to proposed studies, and they may experience the process as frustrating and unrewarding. This article aims to briefly review the issue of ethics review for such research and to focus on pragmatic recommendations for psychological researchers navigating ethical review, including how they could engage their research ethics committee more effectively to strengthen this critical relationship.