Browsing by Author "Redman, B."

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    Assessment of the Operational Characteristics of Research Ethics Committees in Ghana
    (SAGE, 2022) Owusu, S.A.; Addison, G.; Redman, B.; Kearns, L.; Amuna, P.; Laar, A.
    There were eighteen Research Ethics Committees (RECs) operating in Ghana as of December 2019 but no empirical assessment of their operational characteristics had been conducted. We assessed the characteristics of Ghanaian RECs using an existing Self-Assessment Tool for RECs in Developing Countries. We present results from nine RECs that participated in this nation-wide assessment. Our results indicate that the RECs are generally adherent to the recommendations in the Tool including being composed of members with diverse expertise. They also reviewed and approved research protocols as well as had access to some limited funding for their activities. There is no national policy on research human protections or an ethics authority to regulate the activities of the RECs. We recommend the establishment of this authority in Ghana while encouraging institutions to sustain efforts aimed at making their RECs operate independently.
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    Rationing health and social goods during pandemics: Guidance for Ghanaian decision makers
    (Clinical Ethics, 2021) Laar, A.; DeBruin, D.; Ofori-Asenso, R.; Laar, M.E.; Redman, B.; Caplan, A.
    Healthcare rationing during pandemics has been widely discussed in global bioethics literature. However, existing scenarios and analyses have focused on high income countries, except for very few disease areas such as HIV treatment where some analyses related to African countries exist.We argue that the lack of scholastic discourse, and by extension, professional and democratic engagement on the subject constitute an unacceptable ethical omission. Not only have African governments failed to develop robust ethical plans for pandemics, ethicists in this region have been unable to ignite public discourse on rationing. Therefore, we aim to initiate a debate on how rationing health and social goods could be done ethically in Ghana during the current and future pandemics. The paper discusses and critiques some moral considerations (utilitarian, equity, equal worth, urgent need, and the prioritarian principles) for rationing and their relevance in the Ghanaian context. This contribution may facilitate ethical decision-making during the current (COVID-19) pandemic - in Ghana and other African settings where hardly any rationing guidelines exist