[afro-nets] Ethics Essay Competition won by Pakistan Medical Researcher

[Barbara Keating <barbara.keating@scidev.net>]

SciDev.Net's ethics essay competition won by Pakistan medical
researcher
-------------------------------------------------------------

Dear all at AFRO-NETS,

I would appreciate if you could include a notice about the win-
ner of our new ethics of medical research essay competition on
your next mail-out. Our winner wrote an opinion piece on the
difficulties developing country researchers face when trying to
ensure the ethical requirements of their research are met. I
have included the press release below. Please let me know if you
have any queries.

Many thanks,
Barbara Keating
mailto:barbara.keating@scidev.net


--
For immediate release

Pakistan medical researcher wins the Science and Development
Network ethics essay competition

Recent years have seen growing international debate about the
ethics of conducting medical research in developing countries.
With resources often-limited within developing countries, there
can often be an increased risk of exploitation of the more vul-
nerable parties.

Earlier this year, the Science and Development Network
(SciDev.Net) launched an essay competition to tap into new
thinking about the ethical issues surrounding clinical trials in
the developing world. Following a number of excellent entries
giving refreshing perspectives on this often controversial area,
SciDev.Net is pleased to announce Robyna I. Khan from Pakistan
as the winner (http://www.scidev.net/Opinions/khan).

Robyna I. Khan, a consultant anaesthesiologist from the Aga Khan
University in Karachi, Pakistan, wrote the piece based on her
own experiences as part of a research project. Participants,
with a wide variety of medical needs, were selected when they
came to the hospital for treatment. The patients then paid for
their treatment, but this also included the cost of the research
intervention. Khan speaks passionately about how situations like
this raise difficulties for those working in medical research in
developing countries where the ethical requirements of their
studies come up against the reality on the ground.

SciDev.Net is delighted to publish Khan's opinion piece in its
online dossier on the ethics of medical research which last year
won the most innovative web publication award from the Institute
of Medical Ethics for its 'spotlight' on consent
(http://www.scidev.net/ethics).

Professor Brian Greenwood, London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine, chairman of the advisory panel for the ethics of medi-
cal research dossier and judge of the essay competition. "This
competition brought to light some fascinating perspectives about
ethical research in the developing world. Robyna I. Khan high-
lights some of the real-life issues of those conducting research
in developing countries and we are glad to be able to bring them
to the attention of the international community of medical re-
searchers and health professionals."

The use of SciDev.Net material, including this article, is free
to reproduce with appropriate accreditation for the author and
SciDev.Net (please see editors notes for full legal details).

Notes to the editor:

1. The winning entry "Paying the price of research" by Robyna I.
Khan can be found on http://www.scidev.net/Opinions/khan. The
ethics of medical research dossier, which includes opinion,
analysis, news, resources and educational resources, can be
found at http://www.scidev.net/ethics

2. Use of materials in other print and electronic media is free.
However those wishing to reproduce SciDev.Net original articles
must credit SciDev.Net and the author. The author credit for
this article opinion article should be 'Robyna I. Khan, winner
of the Science and Development essay on ethics competition'. The
source of the article should be 'SciDev.Net'. Where the material
is reproduced on a website, a link should be included to the
SciDev.Net website (www.scidev.net). SciDev.Net would be grate-
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