The aim of this fourth version of the Global Forum in Brasilia 2002 was to impulse moral debate around pressing and current issues in research bioethics and genomics.

The meeting was attended by 119 professionals, researchers, managers, and bioethicists from both the developed and the developing world (See table). During two days, 29th and 30th of October 2002, they exchanged views on issues related to genomics, ethics, and international guidelines for the conduct of research involving human subjects.

The meeting consisted of plenary lectures, followed by appointed discussions, panel discussions on selected topics, and presentations of relevant cases taken from biomedical research experiences in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) Region and other WHO Regions. Sessions were held in Spanish, Portuguese, or English with simultaneous translation.

The IV Global Forum on Bioethics, devoted this time to genomics research, was organized by the Regional Program on Bioethics PAHO/WHO, located in Santiago, Chile, and PAHO Representation in Brazil with the support and sponsorship of the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health (USA) and the Wellcome Trust, UK, and other academic institutions with a shared interest in this issue, like the Centers for Disease Control, USA. As a host institution, PAHO contributed substantially to the costs of the meeting, which was made part of the official celebration of its centennial anniversary. At the opening ceremony, Director George Alleyne was accompanied by representatives of the sponsoring institutions and by PAHO officials such as Dr Jacobo Finkelman, PAHO/WHO Representative in Brazil, Dr Fernando Lolas, Director of the Regional Program on Bioethics, and Dr Leocir Pessini, representing the International Association for Bioethics and the Brazilian Society of Bioethics.

OPAS Brazil