University of Pretoria, School of Health Systems and Public Health.
Dev World Bioeth. 2012 Aug;12(2):74-86. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-8847.2012.00325.x. Epub 2012 Apr 18.
Health research initiatives worldwide are growing in scope and complexity, particularly as they move into the developing world. Expanding health research activity in low- and middle-income countries has resulted in a commensurate rise in the need for sound ethical review structures and functions in the form of Research Ethics Committees (RECs). Yet these seem to be lagging behind as a result of the enormous challenges facing these countries, including poor resource availability and lack of capacity. There is thus an urgent need for ongoing capacity and resource development in these regions in general, and in Africa in particular. Similarly, there is a need for research and initiatives that can identify existing capacity and funding and indicate the areas where this needs to be developed. This discussion paper argues that the Mapping African Research Ethics Capacity (MARC) project is a timely initiative aimed at identifying existing capacity. MARC provides a platform and tool on the Council on Health Research for Development's (COHRED) Health Research website (HRWeb), which can be used by RECs and key stakeholders in health research in Africa to identify capacity, constraints and development needs. MARC intends to provide the first comprehensive interactive database of RECs in Africa, which will allow for the identification of key relationships and analyses of capacity. The potential of MARC lies in the mapping of current ethical review activity onto capacity needs. This paper serves as a starting point by providing a descriptive illustration of the current state of RECs in Africa.
全球卫生研究计划的规模和复杂性不断扩大，特别是在发展中国家。在中低收入国家扩大卫生研究活动的同时，也相应地需要健全的伦理审查结构和功能，即研究伦理委员会（RECs）。然而，由于这些国家面临着巨大的挑战，包括资源匮乏和能力不足，这些机构似乎落后了。因此，一般来说，这些地区，特别是非洲，迫切需要持续的能力和资源开发。同样，也需要开展研究和倡议，以确定现有的能力和资金，并指出需要开发的领域。本文认为，非洲研究伦理能力测绘（MARC）项目是一项及时的倡议，旨在确定现有的能力。MARC 在非洲卫生研究理事会（COHRED）的卫生研究网站（HRWeb）上提供了一个平台和工具，非洲的 RECs 和卫生研究的主要利益相关者可以使用这个平台和工具来确定能力、限制因素和发展需求。MARC 旨在提供非洲 RECs 的第一个全面的交互式数据库，从而能够确定关键关系并分析能力。MARC 的潜力在于将当前的伦理审查活动映射到能力需求上。本文通过描述性地说明非洲 RECs 的现状，为进一步研究提供了一个起点。
