Chair

• Hugh Whittall, Director, Nuffield Council on Bioethics

Speakers

• Gagandeep Kang, Executive Director, Translational Health Science and Technology Institute of India; and member of the steering committee of the COVID-19 Clinical Research Coalition
• Gustavo Matta, Researcher in Public Health at Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazil (Fiocruz); and coordinator of Zika Social Sciences Network
• Aissatou Touré, Director of the Alliance pour la Recherche et l’Ethique en Afrique (ARE Africa), and Vice-chair of Senegal National Ethics Committee for Health Research

The first webinar in the Nuffield Council’s current series of COVID-19-related webinars explored a number of the ethical issues that arise in the context of research in global health emergencies such as the current pandemic. This follow-up seminar considers in more detail some of the issues that may be particularly challenging and important in connection with such research in low and middle income settings. These include:

• ensuring the relevance of research to local populations: both in terms of responding to local needs and circumstances, and in terms of the affordability of research interventions that prove effective;
• the role of community engagement in helping ensure that research is locally relevant and acceptable; and
• how best to support the capacity of ethics committees to ensure that they are not overburdened during the pandemic, and are able to scrutinise research proposals in a timely and effective manner.

Attendees will not be audible or visible during the webinar, but will be able to put questions to the panel through a Q&A tool.

Watch the recording:

More information: Nuffield Council on Bioethics website