CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: Second AMANET Workshop on Advanced Health Research Ethics for Investigators
DATES: 23-27 February 2009
VENUE: Dar es salaam, Tanzania
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: 31 October 2007
http://www.amanet-trust.org/ext/news/AHRECall2009.html
BACKGROUND/RATIONALE
The high disease burden of African countries, the emergence of new diseases, and efforts to address the10/90 gap, have led to an unprecedented increase in health research activities in Africa. In light of the generally poor health delivery systems, the lower levels of education, and poverty of communities and governments, it has become imperative that HRE in Africa be strengthened in order to minimise the risk of unethical research being conducted on the poor populations.
Historically, research participants and research institutions have been exposed to abuse and are inadequately prepared to handle complexities that characterize justice and beneficence desirable for research involving human participants and communities. This is ever so important in the less developed world where regulatory systems are either very weak or non-existent in majority of cases.
Over the next three years, and through a grant from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, AMANET will organize a series of 5 workshops on Advanced Health Research Ethics (HRE) primarily for health investigators and secondarily for Ethics Committee members and policy makers. Since the workshops will be at an advanced level, basic HRE training will be a pre-requisite. The first Advanced HRE workshop was held in Dar es Salaam from 23 to 27 June 2008.
PRECEDENCE:
AMANET continues to champion the need for training in biomedical research ethics to various stakeholders of research in Africa. With regard to health research ethics for ethics review committees, the following workshops have been organized by AMANET:
1. Workshops on Ethics in Health Research in Africa, in Kenya (Kisumu, 2001), Ethiopia (Addis Ababa, 2001), South Africa (2002, Pretoria), Gabon, (Libreville, 2002), Sudan (Khartoum, 2003), Cameroon (Yaoundé, 2003), Ethiopia (2007), Ghana (2008) Senegal (in French, 2008), Uganda (2008) and Tanzania (Dar es Salaam, 2005, 2006 and 2007)
2. The first Advanced Health Research Ethics Workshop for investigators was held in Tanzania, in June 2008.
3. Workshop on Standard Operating Procedures for Ethics Review of Health Research in Africa, 17-21 February 2003, Entebbe, Uganda;
4. Workshop on Advanced Ethics in Biomedical Research that Involves Human Subjects, 1-3 December 2004, Zanzibar, Tanzania; and
5. Workshop on Protection of Human Research Participants: Writing of Standard Operating Procedures for Ethics Review Committees in Eastern Africa: 29-31 August 2005, Dar es salaam, Tanzania.
Reports on the above activities are available in the various issues of the AMANET Newsletter available online at: www.amanet-trust.org.
WORKSHOP PEDAGOGICAL METHODS
The workshop will apply participatory approaches including overviews, case studies, discussion groups, panelists, and participants presentations and other interactive and adult teaching/learning methods. To broaden discussions special panels for some of the topics will be convened. Lecture type presentations will be followed by question and answer sessions. Experienced facilitators have been carefully selected from within Africa.
WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS (SELECTION)
Senior investigators and research project Principal Investigators (PIs) are encouraged to apply. Junior investigators who have successfully completed basic Health Research Ethics (HRE) course available on the AMANET website are also eligible. Participation in the AMANET online HRE Discussion Forum will be considered in the selection process. The online Discussion Forum can be accessed via the AMANET website; some of the case studies discussed online will be used during the workshop. The target candidates are health researchers, but few places may be available for applicants outside these criteria. Interested candidates who meet the selection criteria should submit their applications by 31 October 2008.
WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES
This workshop aims firstly to flag topical ethical issues that are relevant to health research in developing country settings, and secondly to explore various schools of thought with the aim of coming up with well thought out positions and/or recommendations. Examples and case studies pertinent to Africa will be used. The following are the highlights of the topics to be covered:
Applying Ethical principles in Health Research and Ethical review process
Responsibilities in Health Research
Ethical issues in research design and recruitment of research participants.
Research with vulnerable persons and groups
Legal and social issues in Health Research Ethics
Ethical Issues in international collaborative health research
Models and practicalities of community consultation
Ethical issues surrounding the 10/90 gap
Ethical issues in traditional medical practice and research
Professional Ethics
Animal Research Ethics
WORKSHOP OUTCOMES
By the end of the five day workshop, it is further hoped that:
1. Participants will be brought up to date with topical ethical issues around current research practices;
2. Participants will be able to address ethical issues at the design stage of health research and be able to enhance the protection of the welfare of research participants when implementing health research protocols.
LANGUAGE:
The workshop will be conducted in English; there will be no translations to other languages.
WORKSHOP REPORTS:
Three participants will be nominated to be rapporteurs for the workshop. Proceedings will be recorded for publication in the AMANET newsletter and will be available for participants.
AMANET SCHOLARSHIP
Selected participants will be awarded scholarships by AMANET, which will cover costs for economy class airfares (where needed), visas, tuition and accommodation and meals.
TIMELINES:
1. This call was sent out on or before 05 September 2008
2. Applications should reach AMANET secretariat no later than 31 October 2008
3. Please note that only short-listed candidates will be contacted, a list of selected candidates will be made available on the AMANET web site. Selected participants will be informed by 30 January 2009
Applications (with brief CVs and one-half page justification) should be submitted by email to:
The Managing Trustee,
African Malaria Network Trust,
Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology Building,
PO Box 33207,
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
E-mail: info@amanet-trust.org
Fax: +255 22 2700380
http://www.amanet-trust.org
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The workshop is supported by a grant to AMANET from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on strengthening institutional health research ethics capacity in Africa.