Overview on health research ethics in Egypt and North Africa.

Diaa Marzouk (1) , Wafaa Abd El Aal (2) , Azza Saleh (3) , Hany Sleem (4) , Meriem Khyatti (5) , Loubna Mazini (5) , Kari Hemminki (6, 7) , Wagida A Anwar (1)

1 Community Medicine Department
2 National Research Centre - NRC (EGYPT)
3 Theodor Bilharz Research Insitute
4 National Hepatology and Tropical Medicine Research Institute [Cairo]
5 Institut Pasteur du Maroc
6 Center for Primary Health Care Research
7 DKFZ - German Cancer Research Center - Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum [Heidelberg]

Developing countries, including Egypt and North African countries, need to improve their quality of research by enhancing international cooperation and exchanges of scientific information, as well as competing for obtaining international funds to support research activities. Research must comply with laws and other requirements for research that involves human subjects. The purpose of this article is to overview the status of health research ethics in Egypt and North African countries, with reference to other Middle Eastern countries. The EU and North African Migrants: Health and Health Systems project (EUNAM) has supported the revision of the status of health research ethics in Egypt and North African countries, by holding meetings and discussions to collect information about research ethics committees in Egypt, and revising the structure and guidelines of the committees, as well as reviewing the literature concerning ethics activities in the concerned countries. This overview has revealed that noticeable efforts have been made to regulate research ethics in certain countries in the Middle East. This can be seen in the new regulations, which contain the majority of protections mentioned in the international guidelines related to research ethics. For most of the internationally registered research ethics committees in North African countries, the composition and functionality reflect the international guidelines. There is growing awareness of research ethics in these countries, which extends to teaching efforts to undergraduate and postgraduate medical students.

Domains: Biotechnology; Ethics

Diaa Marzouk, Wafaa Abd El Aal, Azza Saleh, Hany Sleem, Meriem Khyatti, et al.. Overview on health research ethics in Egypt and North Africa.. European Journal of Public Health, 2014, 24 (Suppl 1), pp.87-91. ⟨10.1093/eurpub/cku110⟩. ⟨pasteur-01252494⟩