Grand Challenges in Global Health:
“….This week PLoS Medicine publishes four policy papers from the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative, a partnership dedicated to supporting scientific and technical research to solve critical health problems in the developing world. The papers explore the ethical, social, and cultural issues that the initiative faces; the concerns of key informants from the developing world; the effectiveness of community engagement in developing countries; and engaging civil society organizations in biomedical research….”
The Ethical, Social and Cultural Program
Peter A. Singer, Andrew D. Taylor, Abdallah S. Daar, Ross E. G. Upshur, Jerome A. Singh, James V. Lavery
PloS Med 4(9): e265. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0040265 - September 2007- Volume 4 - Issue 9 - e265
PDF at: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/archive/1549-1676/4/9/pdf/10.1371_journal.pmed.0040265-L.pdf
“….The Grand Challenges in Global Health (GCGH) initiative is a major effort to achieve scientific breakthroughs against diseases that kill millions of people each year in the world’s poorest countries. With 44 projects, more than US$450 million in funding, and scientists from 33 countries, it has the potential to greatly reduce the suffering and death that disproportionately affect the 2 billion poorest people on earth. The 14 Grand Challenges serve seven long-term goals in global health [1],
Such a significant investment in scientific research must be accompanied by a program addressing the ethical, social, and cultural (ESC) issues that may arise—either in the development and implementation of the research projects themselves, or in the subsequent appropriate use of resultant knowledge and technologies by communities in need…”
Grand Challenges in Global Health:
Ethical, Social, and Cultural Issues Based on Key Informant Perspectives
Kathryn Berndtson, Tina Daid, C. Shawn Tracy, Anant Bhan, Emma R. M. Cohen, Ross E. G. Upshur, Jerome A. Singh, Abdallah S. Daar, James V. Lavery, Peter A. Singer
PLoS Med 4(9): e268.doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0040268
PDF [6p.] at: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/archive/1549-1676/4/9/pdf/10.1371_journal.pmed.0040268-L.pdf
To identify key ESC issues, we conducted group discussions with investigators and program offi cers from
the GCGH projects, as well as interviews with developing world experts. Our approach is shown in Box 1.
This compilation of views from investigators and developing world experts is the first description of ESC issues for the GCGH initiative. To our knowledge, it is also the fi rst analysis of ESC issues related to a large-scale science program in the developing world. In this article we outline the ESC issues identifi ed by these key informants. ….”
Grand Challenges in Global Health: Community Engagement in Research in Developing Countries
Paulina O. Tindana, Jerome A. Singh, C. Shawn Tracy, Ross E. G. Upshur, Abdallah S. Daar, Peter A. Singer, Janet Frohlich,
James V. Lavery
PLoS Med 4(9): e273. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0040273
Available online PDF [5p.] at: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/archive/1549-1676/4/9/pdf/10.1371_journal.pmed.0040273-L.pdf
The investigators and key informants placed particular emphasis upon the importance of community engagement, and therefore we prepared a conceptual paper on this topic, which we distributed as a working paper to GCGH investigators and program staff at the 2nd Annual GCGH Meeting. In this article, we summarize
this conceptual paper. We first examine the concept of CE in research in developing countries, then we describe published models of CE, and finally we discuss two relevant examples of CE….”
Grand Challenges in Global Health: Engaging Civil Society Organizations in Biomedical Research in Developing Countries
Anant Bhan, Jerome A. Singh, Ross E. G. Upshur, Peter A. Singer, Abdallah S. Daar
PLoS Med 4(9):e272. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0040272
Available online PDF [4p.] at: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/archive/1549-1676/4/9/pdf/10.1371_journal.pmed.0040272-L.pdf
The full benefit of working with CSOs in biomedical research in the developing world is largely untapped, and it needs to be better understood. Where appropriate, researchers working in the developing world, including the GCGH investigators, should take advantage of working with CSOs. Engaging with CSOs has several benefits for researchers, especially in approaching and working with communities, and for post-research adoption of innovative findings and products. CSOs could play a key role in fostering understanding of how communities currently access technology and how they could do so in the future
The Ethical, Social and Cultural Program of the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative is based at the Program on Life Sciences, Ethics, and Policy at the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health, University Health Network/McLaughlin Centre for Molecular Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Kathryn Berndtson is at the Program on Life Sciences, Ethics, and Policy, McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Tina Daid is at the Centre for Global Health Research, St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. C. Shawn Tracy is at the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics and the Primary Care Research Unit at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Anant Bhan is an independent researcher in Pune, India and bioethicist in the Ethical, Social and Cultural Program for the Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative.
Emma R. M. Cohen is at the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Ross E. G. Upshur is at the Joint Centre for Bioethics, and the Departments of Family and Community Medicine and Public Health Sciences at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Jerome A. Singh is at the Department of Public Health Sciences, and the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; and the Howard College School of Law, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Abdallah S. Daar is at the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health and the Department of Public Health Sciences and Massey College at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. James V. Lavery is at the Centre for Research on Inner City Health and Centre for Global Health Research, the Keenan Research Centre in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital, the Department of Public Health Sciences and Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Peter A. Singer is at the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health and the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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