The Ethical Review Committee and Bioethics Group of the Aga Khan University had organised the moot in collaboration with the the Harvard School of Public Health, Pakistan Medical Research Council and Indian Council for Medical Research.

It ended on Tuesday attended by over 100 participants from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Thailand. Speakers at the moot, including Prof Richard Cash of the Harvard School of Public Health, underscored the need for developing and strengthening the capacity to review research in the developing countries.

The moot spotlighted the fact that with ever-increasing research being sponsored and conducted in the developing countries by the West, there is a growing concern about the exploitation of research subjects in the developing world.

The participants discussed and deliberated on all aspects of ethical issues pertaining to health research with special focus on informed consent, standards of care and reproductive health research which are contentious issues in the developing world. There was a special session on Islam, Ethics and Culture, where Islamic scholars, ethicists, sociologists and talentists discussed the integrated relationships between these basic tenets of our society.

The final day was devoted to a joint session between the Pakistan Medical Research Council and national delegates for formulating a draft document on national and ethical guidelines. There were also recommendations for the development of National Bioethics Commissions. These were accepted by the delegates of Pakistan Medical Research Council. There was also consensus on sustaining this at different forums across the country in order to achieve the desired objectives.

The participants were informed that the Declaration of Helsinki, Council for International Organisation for Medical Scientists Guidelines for biomedical and Epidemiological Research and the US National Bioethics Commission Report; Ethical and Policy Issues in International Research: Clinical Trials in Developing Countries had all come up with new strict guidelines and recommendations.

By Our Staff Reporter