Sub Saharan Africa with only 11% of the world's population has more than 24% of the global disease burden, over 70% of the world's HIV infected persons, and only 3% of the global work force, and spends less than 1% of the world financial resources on health. In the case of Uganda, a country of 35 million people who suffer with a heavy disease burden, there are only 7 Ugandan specialists trained at masters level in bioethics.
American Indian and Alaska Natives (AIAN) face glaring health disparities, and AIAN-specific research lags behind other racial and ethnic data in addressing AIAN health concerns. Engaging AIAN community members in the research process can reduce research mistrust, increase scientific rigor, and expose more AIAN to research both as participants and potentially as future scholars. A significant barrier to community engaged research (CEnR), however, is the absence of culturally relevant human subject's research ethics education for community partners.
established countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region with a high per-capita university education and progressive research agenda. It is also the hub for pharmaceutical drug development with over 20 companies generating generic drugs and exporting it to the region and globally. Jordanian pharmaceutical companies involve 7 Contract Research Organizations (CROs) in Jordan to conduct clinical drug trial and related human research.
Prenatal testing is evolving in two important ways: first, advances in genomic medicine mean that samples of fetal DNA obtained with invasive methods (such as amniocentesis) can be analyzed using microarray analysis or whole genome sequencing, revealing far more information about the fetus's genetic make-up than was previously possible; and second, new, non-invasive prenatal tests have been introduced that isolate fragments of fetal DNA circulating in a pregnant woman's blood, making possible safe, highly accurate genetic testing much earlier in pregnancy than was previously possi
Responsible conduct of research (RCR) is an essential requirement for research training in developed countries and most academic and funding institutions require researchers to obtain such training before starting a research project Jordan is one of the more academically established countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region with a high per-capita university education and progressive research agenda. It is also the hub for pharmaceutical drug development with over 20 companies generating generic drugs and exporting it to the region and globally.
Health research using mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, is becoming more common. New hardware and software can transform a mobile device into a sophisticated data collection and analytical platform. These technologies are fundamentally changing health research because the recruitment, data collection, and data sharing are conducted online without any face-to-face interaction between researchers and research participants.
This project will identify and address ethical and practical barriers to qualitative data sharing (QDS) in health sciences research. Qualitative research has unique value in understanding health behaviors and traits that are stigmatized and hidden such as risk factors for HIV or a genetic propensity to addiction. Accordingly, a lot of qualitative data are sensitive, and the data are provided within relationships of trust.
New techniques for genomic research are being developed to take advantage of the ability to contact research participants directly, without utilizing physicians, hospitals, or biobanks. Researchers are now able to use the internet to recruit and enroll research participants in genomic studies by using an online application and consent process. Participants send their health records electronically and ship a sample of blood or saliva to the researchers.
Prenatal genetic services have expanded at an extraordinary pace over the past 4 years with the development of fetal genome sequencing using cell-free placental DNA in maternal serum. Some commentators predict that this new technology, which allows for noninvasive determination of an increasingly wide range of maternal-fetal health conditions, will improve prenatal care, especially in lower-resource areas.
The volume of international research in sub Saharan Africa is increasing largely because of the continents unique high burden of diseases such as malaria, HIV and more recently non-communicable diseases. The continent also faces emerging global health challenges such as Ebola and Zika virus all of which will require testing of new medicines, medical devices or understanding the pathophysiology. Many studies now include complex research such as genetic testing.