Sen Kasturi, Hussain Hamid, Al-Faisal Waleed
Wolfson College (CR), Oxford, UK.
Faculty of Medicine, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq.
BMJ Glob Health. 2016 Nov 29;1(3):e000149. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2016-000149. eCollection 2016.
Ethical challenges facing research and reporting from conflict-affected zones are well known; among them is the difficulty of finding reliable information; the tendency to take sides and define actors as either good or evil; the precarious security situation of residents and the ever-changing scenarios on the ground. We observed, however, that these challenges go unacknowledged in research and reporting on health state and on the health system from the conflict in Iraq and Syria, with the lines between science and journalistic reporting routinely blurred in the literature. What should be the restraining factor of academic research against prejudiced reporting on injury, death and the healthcare system has mostly failed in the Syrian conflict. Even social media, with its promise of 'independent' and 'citizens' voice', can be skewed, with much of the output in the Syria crisis coming from one side only, largely due to access issues. While researchers in conflict-affected zones, such as Syria, may need to take a position on one side or another when reporting, death, destruction and disease, it is important that they admit to the challenges of accessing unbiased data, the near impossibility of obtaining representative samples and the risk of the contamination of evidence, clinical or otherwise. The example of the Syrian and Iraqi conflicts (as context) indicates a need to reassess research ethics in conflict zones and their implications for policy.
受冲突影响地区的研究和报道所面临的伦理挑战是众所周知的；其中包括难以找到可靠信息；倾向于偏袒一方并将行为体定义为好或坏；居民岌岌可危的安全状况以及当地不断变化的局势。然而，我们观察到，在关于伊拉克和叙利亚冲突中的健康状况和卫生系统的研究和报道中，这些挑战未得到承认，科学与新闻报道之间的界限在文献中经常模糊不清。在叙利亚冲突中，学术研究对有关伤亡和医疗系统的偏见性报道的约束因素大多失效。甚至社交媒体，尽管其承诺提供“独立”和“公民声音”，也可能存在偏差，叙利亚危机中的许多信息仅来自一方，这主要是由于获取信息的问题。虽然在叙利亚等受冲突影响地区的研究人员在报道死亡、破坏和疾病时可能需要站在某一方，但重要的是他们要承认获取无偏见数据的挑战、几乎不可能获得具有代表性的样本以及证据（临床或其他方面）被污染的风险。叙利亚和伊拉克冲突的例子（作为背景）表明有必要重新评估冲突地区的研究伦理及其对政策的影响。
