Ethical Issues in International Health Research
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June 14 - 18, 1999
Harvard School of Public Health
Boston, USA
Purpose:
This program is essential for any individual or organisation who will
fund, approve, conduct, or collaborate in health research, providing
a unique opportunity to explore ethical issues in international
health care through lectures, discussions, and case analysis.
Overview:
There is a long tradition of investigators from industrialised coun-
tries collaborating with researchers in developing countries. The
ethical codes for research that guided the early investigators and
their funders were those based on the dominant society. Following the
Second World War, the Nuremberg Code was developed to prevent the
abuse visited upon non-consenting subjects. Other documents - Hel-
sinki Declaration, the International Guidelines for Biomedical Re-
search Involving Human Subjects (and later for Epidemiology Studies)
- gave further definition to research ethics in the international
context.
These guidelines are based on three principles: respect for persons,
beneficence, and justice. Even with these guidelines and regulations
there remain differences in the interpretation and application of
these principles, especially in the context of international re-
search. There are many areas of conflict; the most recent being the
controversy surrounding the use of placebos in studies of the preven-
tion of HIV infection in the new-born, and the field testing of HIV
vaccines.
What You Will Learn:
- The basis for the present guidelines for international health re
search ethics;
- International health research guidelines that are presently the
standards;
- Issues regarding informed consent especially conflicts that revolve
around individual versus group rights;
- Ethical responsibilities of the researcher to the community in
terms of sharing of results, benefiting from products tested, and
maintaining levels of care;
- Responsibilities of the investigator regarding issues of plagiarism
and ownership of ideas and specimens;
- Ethical issues regarding conflicts of interest and confidentiality;
- The special research questions regarding genetic research and re-
search among refugee populations;
- Managing and monitoring of studies with regard to their ethical be-
haviour;
- The role of medical journals, the press, and others in maintaining
ethical standards of research.
For more information please see:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/ccpe/programs/ETHICS.shtml
or contact:
Vasant Narasimhan
mailto:vnarasim@student.med.harvard.edu
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Orit Halpern, MPH
Project Manager
Global Reproductive Health Forum
Harvard School of Public Health
Department of Population and International Health
665 Huntington Ave.
Boston MA 02115, USA
Tel: +1-617-432-4619
Fax: +1-617-566-0365
mailto:ohalpern@hsph.harvard.edu
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/Organizations/healthnet
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