Minutes of the meeting held on 11 April 2000
Wed, 17 August 2005
2nd Meeting
NUFFIELD COUNCIL ON BIOETHICS
WORKING PARTY ON HEALTHCARE-RELATED RESEARCH
IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Minutes of the Meeting held at Medical Research Council 20 Park Crescent London W1N 4AL on Tuesday 11 April 2000
PRESENT
Professor Sir Kenneth Calman (Chairman)
Michael Elves, Povl Riis, V I Mathan, Shahwar Sadeque, Keith McAdam, Peter Smith, David Parkin
SECRETARIAT
Sandy Thomas (Director), Susan Bull (Secretary to the Working Party), Yvonne Melia (Research Assistant)
APOLOGIES
Dr Anne McLaren, Professor Bhiku Parekh,
Professor Nelson Sewankambo and Dr Fabio Zicker
CHAIRMAN'S INTRODUCTION
1 The Chairman reported that he had attended a recent Council meeting and reported on the Working Party's progress to date. The draft report would be submitted to the Council at two stages during the next 16 months. The final report would be 'signed off' before publication.
2 The Chairman regretted to announce that two members had unexpectedly had to resign from the Working Party due to other commitments. The Chairman was pleased to report that Dr Fabio Zicker had accepted an invitation to join the Working Party following the resignation of Dr Sepúlveda. A replacement for Dr Nabarro would be considered.
MINUTES OF (00) 1ST MEETING
3 The Minutes of the first meeting were approved.
MATTERS ARISING
4 Possible invitees to fact-finding meetings were discussed. It was agreed that the sub-group meetings had been helpful and that these would form a part of subsequent Working Party meetings.
5 The spectrum of research which should be covered in the report was discussed. When considering what forms of research might be excluded from the Working Party's considerations, it was important to focus on the ethical issues.
WORKING PARTY MEETING IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
HRRDC(00) 06
6 A sub-group of the Working Party would go to Africa to meet with researchers in the region.
CHAPTER OUTLINES
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7 The Chairman thanked the Working Party members for preparing chapter outlines which provided a good basis for discussing how the report should be taken forward. The important issues raised to date were:
1) identifying ethical questions;
2) setting out ethical principles;
3) considering standards of care, who is responsible for setting these;
4) information technology in the media and the globalisation
of the information;
5) capacity building;
6) issues arising from inequity and distributive justice;
7) what happens after research is over;
8) whether research should be conducted when a country cannot afford the intervention;
9) whether research should be conducted in developing countries if it can be conducted in developed countries;
10) issues raised by intercurrent disease;
11) the acceptability of surrogate consent;
12) concepts of illness and healthcare;
13) issues relating to inducement;
14) issues raised by relevant guidance, declarations and regulation;
15) the question to what extent guidance is legally enforceable;
16) issues of the interests of society versus the interests of individuals,
and
17) the risk/benefit equation.
8 Working Party members were asked to expand the drafts of Chapters to approximately 3-5,000 words or 10 to 15 pages for the June meeting.
PUBLIC CONSULTATION
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9 The Secretariat hoped to publish the public consultation later in April. Previous Working Parties had found this consultation exercise extremely useful. A press release would be sent out to journalists. The Secretariat would seek to publish letters and small news pieces in a number of relevant journals and media.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
10 Once completed, a digest of members' registers of interest would be placed on the website.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING: TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY 6-7 JUNE 2000
Last Updated Wed, 17 August 2005