Three case studies illustrating the responsibility of researchers to communities were presented. Vichai Ch. of the Thai Ministry of Public Health presented on the importance VaxGen phase III trial in Thailand. J. Karbwang and H. Engers of the WHO discussed the TDR mandate in capacity-building and provided two examples of how TDR had developed negotiations on drug prices between industry, WHO, and local communities. G. Solarsh of the Africa Centre for Population and Reproductive Health Research in South Africa presented a video presentation developed by M. Bennish of Tufts University on questions that arise when a research centre enters a developing community. These case studies were followed by group discussions focused on examining how communities might contribute to designing and enhancing research for health. The groups reached no conclusions. Finally, eight short presentations were made on community benefit agreements.

The second day of the meeting focused on Capacity-building. Z. Bhutta of Pakistan discussed his involvement with the Aga Khan University ethical review committee and emphasized the need to support ethical review in developing countries. This was followed by a session in which the project of the Forum for Ethical Review Committees in Asia and the Western Pacific (FERCAP) was presented. The history of FERCAP since the beginning of the TDR WHO activities in August 1999 was presented alongside the development of the Operational Guidelines for Ethics Committees That Review Biomedical Research. Members of FERCAP presented the various workshops and activities of FERCAP. The FERCAP initiative demonstrated that capacity-building is most effective as a grass roots initiative. L. De Castro, Vice-President of FERCAP (University of the Philippines), emphasised the connection between FERCAP and the other TDR regional initiatives for developing capacity in ethical review. This was followed by a presentation by D. Picou of the Caribbean Health Research Council in Trinidad and Tobago on a strong background to research ethics already prepared in the Caribbean and an initiative being started within the same framework as FERCAP. K. Hofman of the FIC then discussed the FIC awards for education programmes in international research ethics. Members of the audience also presented a wide range of other capacity-building initiatives.

The presentations were followed by a general discussion on capacity-building. The members of the audience stressed the diversity of capacity-building initiatives and the need for the variations in approaches.

S. Gallagher of CIOMS then presented on the plans for the ongoing revision of the CIOMS Guideline, and expressed the intention to deliver the revised version of the Guideline at a meeting prior to next year’s meeting of the Global Forum. J. Idäpään-Heikkila of CIOMS gave a short presentation on the major changes to the newly revised Declaration of Helsinki.

At the close of the meeting, I. Evans of the MRC in the United Kingdom presented the plans for the next meeting (3rd meeting) of the Global Forum on Bioethics in Research to be held in The Gambia on 7-8 November 2001.

OPAS Brazil