SOUTH AFRICA RESEARCH ETHICS CAPACITY BUILDING PROJECT

University Of Cape Town, Rondebosch

Investigators

Abstract

Bioethics remains largely unaddressed in Africa. In South Africa (SA), it is a fledgling field of activity being slowly developed by a small group of enthusiastic and competent scholars. The range of teaching programs delivered at undergraduate and postgraduate levels is very limited. Two part-time MPhil courses in Bioethics are currently being offered (UCT and US). There is a great need to train competent bioethicists and to develop and expand educational programs, especially in the context of: (I) advances in health care, (II) changes in health care delivery, (III) the need to make complex resource allocation decisions, (IV) attempts to create a democratic society, in which human rights are respected, (V) the HIV/AIDS epidemic (VI) the expansion of international research activities, (VII) the need for international vaccine trials, and (VIII) recent research fraud in SA. A collaborative approach, drawing on the best scholars available in South Africa and consultants from abroad, will be used to develop and deliver a cluster of training programs in ethics. Teaching will be concentrated in, but not limited to, the Western Cape Province, and students will be drawn from South Africa and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa. The educational component of this proposal will go beyond the current courses for undergraduates, to include redesigned and new programs for postgraduates (Masters degree and a Diploma), and short courses for clinicians, members of RECS, and scientists in training. This application for a Fogarty Grant is to enable the achievement of five main objectives in a middle income country: (I) to develop a program of ethics education courses, (II) to undertake some empirical research, (III) to build the capacity of an expanded core of scholars who could sustain the bioethics and research ethics enterprise and (IV) to empower the medical and scientific communities, through training and exposure to bioethics education, to participate as partners in international endeavors to improve health care in Southern Africa, and (V) to encourage a new perception of science and medicine in our society.