Accra, Feb. 5, GNA – Professor John Gyapong, Head of the Health Research Unit of the Ghana Health Service, on Monday said ethical review of proposals for research was not a barrier to research but a way to ensure that the right thing was done.
He explained that in over 95 per cent of instances, approving the proposals would be the last time to hear from the research scientists and instead of submitting six months periodic reports, they never report at all.
“As we approve research projects on health, we should take the pain to monitor these projects to ensure that the research protects the health of the people of Ghana,” he said.
Prof. Gyapong said this at the opening of a three-day meeting on National Research Ethics Review in Accra to create awareness on the need for ethical review in research institutions, provide a platform for networking between the various Research Ethics Committees and Institutional Review Boards (IRB) as well as contribute to the development of international human rights subjects and protection standards in health research institutions in Ghana.
Participants include members of the review committees and researchers from Navrongo and Kintampo Research Centres; Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology; Sunyani Regional Hospital; Ghana Medical School and Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR).
They would look at the history of human subject protection; ethical issues in health research; the role of ethical review in health research; standard operating procedures as well as guidelines and regulations for biomedical research.
Prof Gyapong urged participants to affiliate with other international bodies but should ensure that their independence was maintained and not overshadowed by the international body. He suggested to researchers to create innovating funding mechanism to help in identifying and monitoring the genuine science researchers. Professor Alex Narko, Director of NMIMR, said it was necessary to accelerate health research since it helped to identify and set priorities among health problems; guide and accelerate application of knowledge to solve problems and develop new tools and fresh strategies to advance basic understanding of health problems in both short and long terms.
He urged participants to also brainstorm on various ethical dilemmas such as informed consent; conflict of interest; gender issues and the use of placebos, which were some of problems facing both researchers and ethical review committees. He noted that setting up higher standards were necessary and called for transparency in all their activities since they were dealing with research bordering on health.
Prof. Fred Binka, Lecturer at the School of Public Health, who presided, drew the attention of participants to the need to obtain certification from a multilateral agency to ensure fairness in their activities.
