Qatar's MoPH Organizes National Workshop on Health Research Ethics

Doha, October 15 (QNA) - The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), in cooperation with the Primary Health Care Corporation, organized a national workshop on Health Research Ethics, with the participation of 150 researchers and members of research ethical review committees in the leading health and educational institutions in the State of Qatar. The three-day workshop aimed at emphasizing the ethical dimension of health research, ensuring its implementation in accordance with the highest scientific and ethical standards followed globally, and enhancing practical training for members of human research review committees and those in charge of research in the State of Qatar. During the workshop, criteria for approval of various health research proposals, working methods for review committees of such research, working models for informed consent to preserve the safety of individuals participating in research and the confidentiality of their information, working conditions for clinical trials, research on biological samples, and the ethics of genome research were discussed. The Director of the Department of Health Research and Regulatory at the Ministry of Public Health Dr. Amany Salama Dahir, said that the workshop contributes to promoting awareness of the importance of health research ethics among all health researchers in the State of Qatar. She noted the role of the Health Research Department in implementing policies, principles and regulations for the field of research, establishing policies concerned with basic, transitional and pre-clinical biomedical research, and setting policies and frameworks that define the national strategic direction for health research (human - animal - laboratory), as well as communicable and non-communicable diseases, supporting research activities, researchers and infrastructure, and arranging the necessary funding to meet research needs. Dr. Ahmed Al Nuaimi, Public Health and Community Medicine Research Consultant at PHCC, said that many researchers agree that ethical principles are not difficult in themselves, but the challenges lie in ensuring them, stressing the importance of continuing to develop health research ethics at the national level for the State of Qatar. . He added that the aim of the workshop is to help researchers update their skills, and learn about recent developments in research that can add new ethical challenges such as genomics research. (QNA)