Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Conflict and Health
Published in: Conflict and Health 1/2009

Open Access 01-12-2009 | Review

Ethics of conducting research in conflict settings

Published in: Conflict and Health | Issue 1/2009

Login to get access

Abstract

Humanitarian agencies are increasingly engaged in research in conflict and post-conflict settings. This is justified by the need to improve the quality of assistance provided in these settings and to collect evidence of the highest standard to inform advocacy and policy change. The instability of conflict-affected areas, and the heightened vulnerability of populations caught in conflict, calls for careful consideration of the research methods employed, the levels of evidence sought, and ethical requirements. Special attention needs to be placed on the feasibility and necessity of doing research in conflict-settings, and the harm-benefit ratio for potential research participants.
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Literature
1.
Mills EJ, Singh S: Health, human rights, and the conduct of clinical research within oppressed populations. Global Health. 2007, 3: 1-10. 10.1186/1744-8603-3-10.CrossRef
2.
Stephens J: The body hunters: as drug testing spreads, profits and lives hang in the balance. Washington Post A1. 2000
3.
Burnham G, Lafta R, Doocy S, Roberts L: Mortality after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: a cross-sectional cluster survey. Lancet. 2006, 368: 1421-1428. 10.1016/S0140-6736(06)69491-9.CrossRefPubMed
4.
5.
6.
7.
Roberts L, Zantop M, Ngoy P, Lubula C, Mweze L, Mone C: Elevated Mortality Associated With Armed Conflict – Democratic Republic of Congo, 2002. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2002, 52 (20): 469-471.
8.
Iraq Family Health Survey Study Group: Violence-Related Mortality in Iraq from 2002 to 2006. NEJM. 2008, 358: 484-93. 10.1056/NEJMsa0707782.CrossRef
9.
Checchi F, Elder G, Schäfer M, Drouhin E, Legros D: Consequences of armed conflict for an ethnic Karen population. Lancet. 2003, 362: 74-75. 10.1016/S0140-6736(03)13813-5.CrossRefPubMed
10.
Brown V, Caron P, Ford N, Cabrol JC, Tremblay JP, Lepec R: Violence in southern Sudan. Lancet. 2002, 359 (9031): 161-10.1016/S0140-6736(02)07378-6.CrossRefPubMed
11.
Salignon P, Cabrol JC, Liu J, Legros D, Brown V, Ford N: Health and war in Congo-Brazzaville. Lancet. 2000, 356: 1762-10.1016/S0140-6736(00)03217-7.CrossRefPubMed
12.
Checchi F, Roberts L: Interpreting and using mortality data in humanitarian emergencies: a primer for non-epidemiologists. ODI Network Paper. 2005, 52: 1-38.
13.
Burkle FM, Tapp C, Wilson K, Takaro T, Guyatt GH, Amad H, Mills EJ: Iraq War mortality estimates: a systematic review. Conflict and Health. 2008, 2: 1-46. 10.1186/1752-1505-2-1.PubMedCentralCrossRefPubMed
14.
Robertson DW, Bedell R, Lavery JV, Upshur R: What kind of evidence do we need to justify humanitarian medical aid?. Lancet. 2002, 360: 330-3. 10.1016/S0140-6736(02)09558-2.CrossRefPubMed
15.
Parker P: The Politics of Indemnities, Truth Telling and Reconciliation in South Africa. Ending Apartheid without Forgetting. Human Rights Law Journal. 1996, 17: 1-13.
16.
de Jong K, Mulhern M, Ford N, Simpson I, Swan A, Kam van der S: Psychological trauma of the civil war in Sri Lanka. Lancet. 2002, 359: 1517-18. 10.1016/S0140-6736(02)08420-9.CrossRefPubMed
17.
Amowitz LL, Reis C, Hare Lyons K, Vann B, Mansaray B, Akinsulure-Smith AM, Taylor L, Iacopino V: Prevalence of War-Related Sexual Violence and Other Human Rights Abuses Among Internally Displaced Persons in Sierra Leone. JAMA. 2002, 287: 513-521. 10.1001/jama.287.4.513.CrossRefPubMed
18.
de Jong K, Kam van der S, Ford N, Hargreaves S, van Oosten R, Cunningham D, Boots G: Trauma of Chechnya's ongoing war on internally displaced people. Lancet. 2004, 364: 1008-10.1016/S0140-6736(04)17029-3.CrossRefPubMed
19.
Hollifield M, Warner TD, Lian N, Krakow B, Jenkins JH, Kesler J, Stevenson J, Westermeyer J: Measuring Trauma and Health Status in Refugees: A Critical Review. JAMA. 2002, 288: 611-621. 10.1001/jama.288.5.611.CrossRefPubMed
20.
Bolton P, Bass J, Betancourt T, Speelman L, Onyango G, Clougherty KF, Neugebauer R, Murray L, Verdeli H: Interventions for Depression Symptoms Among Adolescent Survivors of War and Displacement in Northern Uganda: A Randomized Controlled Trial. JAMA. 2007, 298: 519-27. 10.1001/jama.298.5.519.CrossRefPubMed
21.
Tansey E, Bani I: Household-based food fortification for anaemia control in Sudan. Field Exchange. 2006, 31: 24-26.
22.
Marcikic M, Melada A, Kovacevic R: Management of war penetrating craniocerebral injuries during the war in Croatia. Injury. 1998, 29: 613-8. 10.1016/S0020-1383(98)00146-6.CrossRefPubMed
23.
Balasegaram M, Harris S, Checchi F, Ghorashian S, Hamel C, Karunaka U: Melarsoprol versus eflornithine for treating late-stage Gambian trypanosomiasis in the Republic of the Congo. Bull World Health Organ. 2006, 84: 783-91. 10.2471/BLT.06.031955.PubMedCentralCrossRefPubMed
24.
Brown V, Guerin PJ, Legros D, Paquet C, Pécoul B, Moren A: Research in Complex Humanitarian Emergencies: The Médecins Sans Frontières/Epicentre Experience. PLoS Med. 2008, 5 (4): e89-10.1371/journal.pmed.0050089.PubMedCentralCrossRefPubMed
25.
Collins S, Dent N, Binns P: Management of severe acute malnutrition in children. Lancet. 2006, 368: 1992-2000. 10.1016/S0140-6736(06)69443-9.CrossRefPubMed
26.
Hehenkamp A, Hargreaves S: Tuberculosis treatment in complex emergencies: South Sudan. Lancet. 2003, 362: s30-1. 10.1016/S0140-6736(03)15066-0.CrossRefPubMed
27.
Culbert H, Tu D, O'Brien DP, Ellman T, Mills C, Ford N, Amisi T, Chan K, Venis S: HIV treatment in a conflict setting: outcomes and experiences from Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo. PLoS Med. 2007, 4: 794-8. 10.1371/journal.pmed.0040129.CrossRef
28.
Collins S: Changing the way we address severe malnutrition during famine. Lancet. 2001, 358: 498-501. 10.1016/S0140-6736(01)05630-6.CrossRefPubMed
29.
Wilson D, Ford N, Ngammee V, Chua A, Kyaw Kyaw M: HIV Prevention, Care and Treatment in Two Prisons in Thailand. PLoS Med. 2007, 4 (6): e204-10.1371/journal.pmed.0040204.CrossRefPubMed
30.
Ritmeijer K, Davidson RN: Field research in humanitarian medical programmes. Médecins Sans Frontières interventions against kala-azar in the Sudan, 1989–2003. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2003, 97: 609-1. 10.1016/S0035-9203(03)80047-0.CrossRefPubMed
31.
PLoS Medicine Editors: PLoS Medicine's advisory group on publication ethics. PLoS Med. 2007, 4 (2): e81-10.1371/journal.pmed.0040081.CrossRef
32.
Powers M, Faden R: Social Justice: The Moral Foundations of Public Health and Health Policy. 2008, Oxford University Press: Oxford
33.
34.
Mills EJ, Robinson J, Attaran A, Clarke M, Singh S, Upshur RE, Herrmann KJ, Yusuf S: Sharing evidence on humanitarian relief. BMJ. 2005, 331: 1485-6. 10.1136/bmj.331.7531.1485.PubMedCentralCrossRefPubMed
35.
Benatar SR, Daar AS, Singer PA: Global Health Challenges: The Need for an Expanded Discourse on Bioethics. PLoS Med. 2005, 2 (7): e143-. 10.1371/journal.pmed.0020143.PubMedCentralCrossRefPubMed
36.
Barrett MP: The fall and rise of sleeping sickness. Lancet. 1999, 353 (9159): 1113-1114. 10.1016/S0140-6736(98)00416-4.CrossRefPubMed
37.
38.
Emanuel EJ, Wendler D, Killen J, Grady C: What makes clinical research in developing countries ethical? The benchmarks of ethical research. 2003, Department of Clinical Bioethics, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
39.
WMA: World Medical Association: Declaration of Helsinki: ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. 2000, World Medical Association, Edinburgh, Scotland
40.
Lavery J, Grady C, Wahl E, Emmanuel EJ, (eds): Ethical Issues in International Biomedical Research: A Casebook. 2006, New York: Oxford University Press
41.
Shanks L, Ford N, Schull M, de Jong K: Responding to Rape. Lancet. 2001, 357: 304-10.1016/S0140-6736(00)03626-6.CrossRefPubMed
42.
Leaning J: Ethics of research in refugee populations. Lancet. 2001, 357: 1432-1433. 10.1016/S0140-6736(00)04572-4.CrossRefPubMed
43.
Zachariah R, Janssens V, Ford N: Do aid agencies have an ethical duty to comply with researchers?. Developing World Bioethics. 2006, 6: 78-80. 10.1111/j.1471-8847.2006.00141.x.CrossRefPubMed
44.
Aiga H: Bombarding people with questions: a reconsideration of survey ethics. Bull World Health Organ. 2007, 85 (11): 823-4.PubMedCentralPubMed
Metadata
Title
Ethics of conducting research in conflict settings
Publication date
01-12-2009
Published in
Conflict and Health / Issue 1/2009
Electronic ISSN: 1752-1505
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1752-1505-3-7

Other articles of this Issue 1/2009

Conflict and Health 1/2009 Go to the issue

Case study

Universal access: the benefits and challenges in bringing integrated HIV care to isolated and conflict affected populations in the Republic of Congo

Short report

Learning lessons from field surveys in humanitarian contexts: a case study of field surveys conducted in North Kivu, DRC 2006-2008

Research

Sexual violence in the protracted conflict of DRC programming for rape survivors in South Kivu

Research

Use of facility assessment data to improve reproductive health service delivery in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Research

Mortality, violence and access to care in two districts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Research

Trauma, poverty and mental health among Somali and Rwandese refugees living in an African refugee settlement – an epidemiological study