Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Series
  • People
  • Depts & Colleges
  • Open Education

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Series
  • People
  • Depts & Colleges
  • Open Education

Fighting diseases of poverty through research: Deadly dilemmas, moral distress and misplaced responsibilities

Series
Uehiro Oxford Institute
Audio Embed
A New St Cross Special Ethics Seminar, with Professor Maureen Kelley.
Much of global health research occurs against the backdrop of severe, intersectional and structural vulnerabilities, where susceptibility to disease and early death are driven by poverty, and related factors such as political conflict and climate change. Global health research priorities over the last two decades have been shaped by a small number of high income country institutions, with political commitments informed largely by the ‘global burden of disease’ model. On this model, international research has primarily targeted infectious diseases and other causes of high morbidity and premature, preventable mortality, but has ignored the structural determinants of those diseases. An unintended consequence is that researchers at the frontlines of data collection and interaction with participants and communities come face-to-face with the daily suffering of participants and family members. They often face heart-rending dilemmas in responding to complex health, social, and economic needs that far outstrip the resources and expertise of most research projects or clinical trials. In this presentation, I will share findings from a longitudinal research ethics study, where local ethics teams were embedded within ongoing clinical and social science research studies in contexts of severe poverty, food shortages, droughts and flooding, gender-based violence and political conflict—typical of many global health research sites. Based on our empirical ethics findings, including experiences of research participants, community members and researchers, I will offer critical reflections on the limitations of current accounts of researcher responsibility (ancillary care or duty of care), and suggest we rethink the ways that current global health research institutions and funders engage the underlying structural drivers of disease and suffering.

More in this series

View Series
Uehiro Oxford Institute

Towards a plasticity of the mind – New-ish ethical conundrums in dementia care, treatment, and research

A New St Cross Special Ethics Seminar with Dr David M Lyreskog.
Previous
Uehiro Oxford Institute

Waiver or understanding? A dilemma for autonomists about informed consent

Professor Gopal Sreenivasan delivers a New St Cross Special Ethics Seminar on the topic of Informed Consent.
Next
Transcript Available

Episode Information

Series
Uehiro Oxford Institute
People
Maureen Kelley
Keywords
global health research; diseases of poverty; research ethics
Department: Uehiro Oxford Institute
Date Added: 24/05/2021
Duration: 00:52:41

Subscribe

Apple Podcast Video Apple Podcast Audio Audio RSS Feed

Download

Download Audio Download Transcript

Footer

  • About
  • Accessibility
  • Contribute
  • Copyright
  • Contact
  • Privacy
'Oxford Podcasts' Twitter Account @oxfordpodcasts | MediaPub Publishing Portal for Oxford Podcast Contributors | Upcoming Talks in Oxford | © 2011-2022 The University of Oxford