Ethical review of health-related biotechnology research in Africa: a role for the Pan African Bioethics Initiative (PABIN).

The paper reviews the status of nature and functions of the Pan African Bioethics Initiative (PABIN) a voluntary organization, founded in 2001 by leading members of the African health research and bioethics communities, with the aim of enhancing ethical awareness in Africa, in general, and building ethical clearance capacity in all African countries in particular. PABIN, with a membership drawn from more than 20 African countries is a member of the forum of the WHO/TDR Strategic Initiative for Developing Capacity in Ethical Review (SIDCER). PABIN works closely with its sister forums in Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and North America as well as other continental and international organizations that promote bioethics in health research. PABIN has conducted three conferences and several seminars in collaboration with continental and international partners on subjects of ethical concerns in Africa. Strategically, PABIN aims at assisting in the development of competent in-country bioethics review systems in all African countries. Notable among the contemporary issues that is on the PABIN agenda is addressing the repercussions of the active pursuit by pharmaceutical and other commercial interests from the Western developed countries to conduct all sorts of clinical biomedical trials on African populations before marketing such biotechnological products and services. This drive has brought with it highly controversial ethical issues at a time when both technical and organizational capacity are lacking in much of Africa to address the ethical concerns that are arising from some health-related researches. PABIN seeks to assure that the expected health and social benefits derivable from biotechnology are reaped in accordance with internationally accepted norms.