PHA-Exchange> Grand Challenges in Global Health: ethical, social, and cultural (ESC) issues

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC) ruglucia at paho.org
 EQUIDAD at listserv.paho.org

 *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 officers from

the GCGH projects, as well as interviews with developing world experts.

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
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