Research ethics occupies an uncomfortable place in investigators’ hearts. On one hand, it’s at the core of their work – no clinical trial could, or should, be conducted without a strong ethical framework. But researchers also want to get their trials up and running as soon as possible, and waiting for ethics review can be immensely frustrating. In a small basement room at the MIM conference today, it became clear just how relevant these issues are for a disease like malaria.

Malaria trials often involve the vulnerable segments of a population –pregnant women and children and so there are sensitive ethics issues. But the trials are almost always done in Africa, where ethics review is patchy across the region. Clearly, there is a need to mesh these conflicting factors.

The members of review panels, however, have a hard time of things. They are often volunteers who have full-time jobs, few resources, and little training.

So what’s the solution? Collaborative efforts by organisations like PABIN/SIDCER help tremendously by offering much needed training and funding. For their part, African scientists involved in bioethics will have to think about the issues in a broad, perhaps moral, context, rather than just ticking ethics review boxes. This is a tough challenge, but one that African scientists are more than capable of. Watch this space for a Q&A with Aceme Nyika, AMANET’s ethics coordinator.