Role of E-learning in teaching health research ethics and good clinical practice in africa and beyond

Abstract

2 Abstract Background Despite the recent increase in health research involving humans on the African continent, the level of knowledge in Health Research Ethics (HRE) and Good Clinical Practice (GCP) is arguably still very poor in Africa. Conventional training opportunities in HRE or GCP are not widely accessible to the majority of people in Africa. Most of the currently available e-learning courses are clearly designed for either different contexts or from different perspectives, which, to some extent, reduces their relevance to research conducted in African settings. Although short-term face-to-face workshops as well as long term training play a significant role in training researchers or Ethics Review Committee members in HRE and GCP, there is need to cater for candidates who may not be able to leave their work stations. E-learning is a convenient mode of teaching that suits candidates in many different circumstances and thus complements other forms of training. Methods and Findings A package of e-learning courses was developed and made freely available to any interested candidates in Africa or elsewhere. The package consisted of a basic HRE course in English and French, an advanced HRE course in English and a GCP course in English. Over 2500 candidates have enrolled, with over 1000 having successfully completed and awarded certificates for the respective courses. This paper presents trends and descriptive statistics of collected data and discusses future prospects. Conclusions: Results from this project demonstrate that e-learning plays a major role in teaching HRE and GCP in Africa in particular and worldwide in general. Having web-based courses developed from an African perspective could go a long way in addressing some ethical and practical hurdles encountered in African settings. There is need to scale up use of the web as a training tool 3 so as to complement other methods and modes of training available