Enabling Ethical Research; A Bioethics Capacity Building Program in Pakistan

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Program Summary Biomedical research has been increasing exponentially in the last few decades, requiring a parallel growth in research ethics capacity. Low Middle Income Countries [LMIC] face striking health care issues due to socioeconomic, cultural, religious, and political turmoil, and need better research to find solutions for those issues. Pakistan, the fifth largest country of the world by population, is trying to increase research capacity for health care issues affecting local populations mandating a supporting effort to build research ethics resources. The proposed program is one such effort. Enabling Ethical Research (EnablER): A Capacity Building Program in Pakistan, the planned project, will have three main aims; 1) Develop a curriculum for two-year advanced level Master of Bioethics program with special emphasis on Research Ethics, 2) Deliver a two- year advanced level Master of Bioethics program, and 3) Conduct a needs-assessment of Research Ethics and Bioethics in leading academic centres of Pakistan through a mixed method approach. This advanced level Master program is for mid-career professionals from different disciplines enabling them to become leaders in the field capable of spearheading similar programs in their own institutions and carrying out high-quality research on the contextual ethical issues. The successful implementation of this program is expected to translate into improving the overall quality/standards of Bioethics in the four domains namely; research ethics, clinical ethics, public health ethics, and organizational ethics, with research being integrated in each domain. The program will be offered on a part-time basis to health professionals, researchers, pharmacists, physiotherapists, hospital administrators, in addition to health ministry officials and policy makers, lawyers, medical journalists, social scientists, philosophers among others, residing in Pakistan. Additionally, the proposal includes a country- wide mapping exercise of research ethics-related capacity in the country. This is expected to provide information on the manpower needs, and ethics infrastructure of institutions, which may be helpful for policy making, resource allocation, and planning of similar training programs. 1