One year into this project, we are finalizing data collection, moving forward with analysis, and have begun dissemination activities. Progress includes:
Fieldwork:
- We have conducted interviews with 108 stakeholders, over 90% of these being with stakeholders in the three countries most severely affected by the epidemic: Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
- Stakeholders include:
- Research participants, people who opted not to participate in research projects for which they were solicited, and proxy-decision makers who made treatment decisions for relations too ill to provide consent
- Research Ethics Board members who evaluated proposed research projects, either for national-level boards serving affected countries or for organization-specific boards operating within international organizations that assisted with the response
- Investigators who led or supported research projects conducted during the outbreak, as well as healthcare providers who worked on the frontlines of the epidemic, administering experimental interventions and monitoring patients’ condition
- Public sector representatives who were called on to oversee or regulate research conducted during the epidemic: decision-makers in health and other ministries involved in planning the response to the epidemic; representatives of Ebola survivors’ associations and other civil society groups; others
- We have spoken to people involved with a range of research projects: vaccine trials, pharmaceutical and other intervention trials, and observational studies.
Analysis:
- We have conducted a review of publications exploring or addressing ethical and practical challenges associated with research conducted in West Africa during the Ebola outbreak. Over 2,000 peer-reviewed articles were selected for screening by members of the research team; of these, over 100 were selected for inclusion in the review. Findings are currently being written up for publication.
- Analysis of interviews is underway. Draft report of findings will be ready by November 2017.
- We are preparing meetings to present and discuss draft report of findings with stakeholders and research participants in West Africa in November-December 2017. Participants’ feedback will be incorporated into analysis and output materials.
- We are preparing a meeting of co-investigators in Hamilton in December 2017. This will serve to finalize findings, prepare a recommendations draft paper, and finalize components of a webinar (to be held in January).
Outputs to date
Invited Presentations
Nouvet, Elysée (2016) Recherche anthropologique au service de la santé publique : méthodes, considérations, et EER (évaluation ethnographique rapide). Training session presented to the Comité National d’Évaluation de la Recherche en Santé (CNERS), Conakry, Guinée, le 19 décembre
Schwartz, Lisa (2016) L’éthique de recherche socio-anthropologique. Training session presented to the Comité National d’Évaluation de la Recherche en Santé (CNERS), Conakry, Guinée, le 19 décembre
Peer-Reviewed Presentations
Nouvet, Elysée & Schwartz, Lisa (2017) From the front lines: Trialing research ethics in the time of Ebola. Paper presented at the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine Congress on Disaster and Emergency Medicine. Toronto, Canada. April 28th
Nouvet, Elysée (2017) The need to care, learn, and improvise: Enacting research ethics during the West Africa Ebola outbreak. Paper accepted for presentation at Ethox: Oxford Global Health and Bioethics International Conference. University of Oxford, Oxford, England. July 17-18th
Pringle, John (2017) Lessons in research ethics: Experiences of clinical research participation during the West Africa Ebola crisis. Paper accepted for presentation at Ethox: Oxford Global Health and Bioethics International Conference. University of Oxford, Oxford, England. July 17-18th
Workshop Participation
Pringle, John. Ethical Design of Vaccine Trials in Emerging Infections Workshop. Hosted in conjunction with the Oxford Global Health and Bioethics International Conference and Sponsored by a Wellcome Strategic Award and the Ethox Centre. University of Oxford. July 18-19, 2017
Humanitarian Health Ethics 