Bioethics Training in Uganda: Report on Research and Clinical Ethics Workshops

Abstract

This essay describes and critically evaluates a co-operative educational program to train Ugandan health care workers in bioethics. It describes one "bottom-up" effort, a week-long intensive workshop in bioethics provided by the authors to health care professionals in a developing country-Uganda. We will describe the background and circumstances that led to the organization of the workshop, and review its planning, design, curriculum, and outcome. We will focus especially on measures taken to make the workshop relevant for the audience of Ugandan professionals, and describe lessons learned after two presentations of the workshop. Finally, we will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of such a format, and its potential value in raising bioethical expertise in developing countries.

Culture, Actors, and Resources Surrounding Undergraduate Bioethics Education in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…Research ethics was used as a search term because these issues often arise during biomedical research. In less industrialised countries in particular, both research ethics and clinical ethics are important as biomedical research is often carried out by individuals that also conduct clinical care (Griggins et al, 2011).…”

“…Diversity: Despite an overarching philosophy of Ubuntu, the setting for this research and care is a continent of great diversity in terms of language, ethnicities, and religions (Adebamowo, 2007;Griggins et al, 2011;Irabor and Omonzejele, 2009;Ndebele et al, 2008). Different colonial histories also resulted in a variety of cultural, administrative, philosophical, and social influences (Adebamowo, 2007).…”

“…Different colonial histories also resulted in a variety of cultural, administrative, philosophical, and social influences (Adebamowo, 2007). Values and beliefs on bioethical topics such as sexuality, birth control, substance abuse, and death vary among patients and healthcare workers (Griggins et al, 2011).…”

“…Sub-Saharan Africa has seen an increase in biomedical research, due in part to the prevalence of HIV/AIDS (Griggins, Simon, Nakwagala, and Pentz, 2011) but also because of the continent's tremendous resources. For example, the region's inhabitants are knowledgeable in traditional and complementary/alternative medicines (World Health Organization, 2003), while cutting edge research is conducted in laboratories at its universities and research centres.…”

The Ethics of Globalizing Bioethics

“…Griggins et al 16 describe two traditional models of bioethics capacity building in peripheral countries: (1) offering training grants to select individuals to study bioethics in established centers and academic programs in Canada, Australia, and the United States, and supporting some activities (setting up ethics committees, design of curricula) when they return home; (2) assistance with short-term workshops in peripheral countries themselves, targeting local health professionals. The Fogarty bioethics funded project in Francophone Africa uses a third model, which focuses primarily on development of local institutional capacity.…”