Ethical Issues in Health Research Involving Human Participants in Latin America and the Caribbean: Description of the Pan American Health Organization Ethical Review Committee Decisions and Practices

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose M. Fonseca-Rivera
2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-8
Author(s):  
Jorge J. Rodriguez

Mental illnesses are a growing health problem and reducing the treatment gap in Latin America and the Caribbean is a great challenge. Evaluations conducted by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and World Health Organization (WHO) have shown that the responsiveness of health services is still limited. Nonetheless, from an evaluation of how mental health reform has progressed in the region following the historical benchmark of the Caracas Declaration (1990), it is clear that – despite the limitations, shortcomings and challenges – significant progress has been made in most countries. This paper briefly reviews this progress.


2019 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Carolina Danovaro-Holliday ◽  
Marcela P. Contreras ◽  
Dalys Pinto ◽  
Ida Berenice Molina-Aguilera ◽  
Diana Miranda ◽  
...  

Objective.To develop a methodology to assess electronic immunization registries (EIRs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in Latin America and the Caribbean.Methods.A team from the Immunization Unit at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reviewed existing methodologies to evaluate health information systems, particularly the Performance of Routine Information System Management (PRISM) framework and methodologies used to assess information systems. In 2014, the PAHO team convened a small working group to develop an evaluation approach to be added to the existing World Health Organization immunization data quality self-assessment (DQS) tool. The resulting DQS with an added EIR component was named “DQS Plus.” The DQS Plus methodology was used in Panama in May 2014 and in Honduras in November 2015.Results.The DQS Plus tool proved feasible and easy to implement in Panama and Honduras, including by not adding much time or resources to those needed for a usual DQS. The information obtained from the DQS Plus assessment was practical and helped provide health authorities with recommendations to update and improve their EIR, strengthen the use of the registry, and enhance the data the assessment produced, at all levels of the health system. These recommendations are currently being implemented in the two countries.Conclusions.The DQS Plus proved to be a practical and useful approach for assessing an EIR in an LMIC and generating actionable recommendations. Further work on defining operational and related EIR functional standards in LMICs will help develop an improved EIR assessment tool for Latin America and the Caribbean, and potentially elsewhere.


2009 ◽  
Vol 25 (S1) ◽  
pp. 253-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Banta

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the Americas, has tried to promote health technology assessment (HTA) in Latin America for 25 years. A certain awareness of HTA developed in several countries because of these efforts. In the late 1990's, there was a strong movement for health reform in Latin America, and HTA became part of that movement. Countries that now are actively institutionalizing HTA include Brazil, Mexico, Chile, and Argentina. Other countries, such as Costa Rica, Colombia, Cuba, Peru, Panamá, Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay, are following these trends and some others seem to be moving in this direction within the next few years.


2005 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Jelsma ◽  
S. Clow

Qualitative research or naturalistic research has moved from the sidelines into the mainstream of health research and an increasing number of qualitative research proposals are being presented for ethical review Qualitative research presents ethical problems that which are unique to the intensive hands-on paradigm which characterises naturalistic research. This paper briefly outlines the most common methodologies used in this research. The four ethical principles of benevolence, non-maleficence, autonomy and justice will be used as a framework to explore specific ethical issues related to this form of inquiry. The need for scientific rigour will also be explored as research that is scientifically unsound can never be ethical.


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