Background: During health emergencies, effective infodemic management has become a paramount challenge. A new era marked by a rapidly changing information ecosystem, combined with the widespread dissemination of misinformation and disinformation, has magnified the complexity of the issue. For infodemic management measures to be effective, acceptable, and trustworthy, a robust framework of ethical considerations is needed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArtificial intelligence (AI) enables a medical device to optimize its performance through machine learning (ML), including the ability to learn from past experiences. In healthcare, ML is currently applied within controlled settings in devices to diagnose conditions like diabetic retinopathy without clinician input, for instance. In order to allow AI-based medical devices (AIMDs) to adapt actively to its data environment through ML, the current risk-based regulatory approaches are inadequate in facilitating this technological progression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To assess the comparability of international ethics principles and practices used in regulating pediatric research as a first step in determining whether reciprocal deference for international ethics review is feasible. Prior studies by the authors focused on other aspects of international health research, such as biobanks and direct-to-participant genomic research. The unique nature of pediatric research and its distinctive regulation by many countries warranted a separate study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenomic science is increasingly central to the provision of health care. Producing and applying robust genomics knowledge is a complex endeavour in which no single individual, profession, discipline or community holds all the answers. Engagement and involvement of diverse stakeholders can support alignment of societal and scientific interests, understandings and perspectives and promises better science and fairer outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCell Genom
November 2021
The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) aims to accelerate biomedical advances by enabling the responsible sharing of clinical and genomic data through both harmonized data aggregation and federated approaches. The decreasing cost of genomic sequencing (along with other genome-wide molecular assays) and increasing evidence of its clinical utility will soon drive the generation of sequence data from tens of millions of humans, with increasing levels of diversity. In this perspective, we present the GA4GH strategies for addressing the major challenges of this data revolution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenetic discrimination (GD) is the differential or unfair profiling of an individual on the basis of genetic data. This article summarizes the actions of the Genetic Discrimination Observatory (GDO) in addressing GD and recent developments in GD since late 2020. It shows how GD can take many forms in today's rapidly evolving society.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOur article aims to provide a comprehensive portrayal of how seven Asian jurisdictions have sought to address the challenge of genetic discrimination (GD) by presenting an analysis of the relevant legislation, policies, and practices. Based on our findings, policy discussion and action on preventing or mitigating GD have been narrowly framed in terms of employment, insurance, disability, marriage, and family planning. Except for South Korea, none of the jurisdictions we examined has adopted specific legislation to prevent GD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe development of biobanks is associated with the emergence of new ethical challenges. In Egypt, several biobanks have been established, but there are no specific local ethical guidelines to guide their work. The aim of this study is to develop recommendations for the Egyptian human biobanking ethical guidelines, which take into consideration the specific cultural and legal framework in Egypt.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBull World Health Organ
April 2020
Technological advances in big data (large amounts of highly varied data from many different sources that may be processed rapidly), data sciences and artificial intelligence can improve health-system functions and promote personalized care and public good. However, these technologies will not replace the fundamental components of the health system, such as ethical leadership and governance, or avoid the need for a robust ethical and regulatory environment. In this paper, we discuss what a robust ethical and regulatory environment might look like for big data analytics in health insurance, and describe examples of safeguards and participatory mechanisms that should be established.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA vicious circle links lack of equitable access to health to the supply of poor-quality medicines, which amount to one-tenth of medicines available in low- and middle-income countries. The WHO introduced a new, public health-focused definition of substandard and falsified (SF) medicines, which offers opportunities for governments to broaden the scope of interventions to combat poor-quality medicines. At the same time, translating it into legal and regulatory measures may be challenging because this definition is not free of ambiguity (in that, there is a gray area between intentionally falsified and unintentional substandard medicines), and some countries may not have appropriate regulatory mechanisms/jurisdictions in place.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiobanks have been heralded as essential tools for translating biomedical research into practice, driving precision medicine to improve pathways for global healthcare treatment and services. Many nations have established specific governance systems to facilitate research and to address the complex ethical, legal and social challenges that they present, but this has not lead to uniformity across the world. Despite significant progress in responding to the ethical, legal and social implications of biobanking, operational, sustainability and funding challenges continue to emerge.
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