KHRCIEC Makes Bigger Strides

Since its inception in October 2004, the Kintampo Health Research Centre Institutional Ethics Committee (KHRCIEC) has been up and doing in its activities with the primary responsibility of serving the needs of researchers whiles working with them closely to protect the dignity, rights, safety and lives of all research participants.

Knowing the importance of training to its members KHRCIEC has, with the support of the Director of the centre, been making conscious efforts to continuously upgrade the working skills of its members in health research ethics work.

Notable among some of the latest capacity building efforts by KHRCIEC is the committee’s participation in the National Research Ethics conference. The committee also recently took part in a workshop on Health Research Ethics for Ethics Committees and Review Boards in Africa in Tanzania.

Below is an itemized report on two workshops the committee recently attended as reported by the KHRCIEC administrator: Benedict Woebong.

NATIONAL RESEARCH ETHICS REVIEW CONFERENCE

Workshop Description:
This conference was jointly organized by the Navrongo Health Research Centre and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research and aimed at providing a platform for ethics review committees and health researchers in Ghana to deliberate on the ethical issues confronting them in their health research institutions. It was also aimed at creating awareness and promoting ethical review of biomedical research studies in Ghana.

Attendance:
This conference was attended by all ethics committee members. Thanks to the KHRC institution, two (2) vehicles were released to facilitate member’s attendance at the conference. The conference was held at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Accra, and was attended by the six independent ethics review committees in Ghana. The workshop took place from the 5th to 7th February, 2007.

Workshop Outcomes
This conference aimed at achieving some specific outcomes in the following areas:

• To create awareness on the need for ethical review in research institutions
• To contribute to the development of international human subjects protection standards in health research institutions in Ghana.
• Provide a platform for networking between the various REC/IRBs
• And to come out with a frame for national ethical review guidelines.

Impact of the conference- what our ethics committee members had to say:
Members of our ethics committee, who hitherto had little formal skills in the ethical review of biomedical research protocols, were full of praise for the conference organisers and KHRC. Members declared openly that these conferences are very helpful and have made them more confident in conducting ethical review. It was also clear to members that the task of ethical review is not an easy one and thus were of the view that the protection of the rights, safety and promoting the well-being of research participants is indeed very critical. When interviewed, Mr. Emmanuel Ofori, who is also a tutor at the Rural Health Training School had this to say: “Little did I know that the role I am playing on the ethics committee is this critical. Protecting the rights of research participants is indeed not child’s play, but I think I’m beginning to build the needed confidence following this conference. I would encourage more of such meetings” . And the chairman of the committee, Rev. Dr. Joe Eyison who was very resourceful in the conference, had this to say: “I’m very impressed about the level of importance the nation is attaching to ethical issues in biomedical research, and hence this conference. It is important to meet in such fora as independent ethics committee members, but who have a common agenda”.

Resolutions:
At the end of the 3-day conference, some important decisions were reached.

1. All ethics committee members were to be made automatic members of the Ghana Bioethics Initiative ( GABIN), a model of the Pan African Bioethics Initiative (PABIN).
2. All administrators of the various ethics committees were to form the core working executive of the GABIN.
3. All ethics committees agreed to come up with a document on national ethical review guidelines.

The experience at this workshop was very encouraging and it is my firm conviction that such meetings will further raise the awareness of ethical issues in biomedical research and empower budding ethicists to ensure the rights, dignity, safety and protection of all individuals who participate in research in KHRC.

The Workshop on Health Research Ethics (HRE) for Ethics Committees and Review Boards in Africa.

Introduction:
Exactly four months after the Ghana meeting on health research ethics, the KHRC Institutional Ethics Committee, had another privilege to build its human resource capacity. Following a call for ethics committees within malaria research institution by AMANET in April, 2007, three members of the KHRCIEC applied and were invited for this workshop. The three members: the Chairman, Administrator and Assistant Administrator left for Tanzania on the 26th May, 2007.

Who was this for?
The workshop brought together 33 research ethics committee members from all over Africa. The intention was clear; to bring together Africans to discuss the African perspective of ethical issues in biomedical research in Africa. The five day workshop which was well attended by professional ethicists from Africa was the first in a series of eight international workshops to be attended by our local ethics committee.

Why at all did we go to Tanzania? The primary objective of the workshop was to provide a general overview of the ethics of health research in the international sphere as well as in Africa. Some of the specifics looked at were:

• Examination of the history of ethics in health research
• Ethics codes and guidelines
• Ethics considerations in the design of health research projects
• Analysis of risk/benefit in health research
• What is owed to research participants and communities
• Role and conduct of informed consent in health research. etc

Serious high level, yet frank discussions were held aimed at achieving the objectives of the workshop. Country specific experiences were shared and it was a clear eye-opener to us that the ethics review business is one needing attention and detail. It was made clear right from the beginning of the workshop that Ethics Committees play a major role in ensuring that the welfare and well-being of research participants are protected, and thus they need standard operating procedures that guarantee uniformity, transparency and independency in the review of research protocols.

Were there any benefits at all?
Yes! Would be my gut response. Firstly, we learnt what is going on in other countries as far as ethics work is concerned. Secondly we learnt the fundamental basis on which we find ourselves in this ethics business- protect, safeguard. Thirdly, the meeting has thrown heavy challenges to us here and have set us on the path of becoming true ethicists. In fact, the chairman, Rev. Dr. Eyison did not mince words…no, could not mince words when he said: “Ben, I think I am convinced that we have a lot to do when we get back home[Ghana]”. The workshop was indeed a spectacle and very successfully organised because I think the aims were achieved. It is our wish that the next batch of workshops yet to be organised by AMANET would see another representation of the ethics group here and indeed research scientist attending.