PABIN meeting held at AHRI

The Pan African Bioethics Initiative (PABIN) is an African initiative established in 2001 at a pan-African conference on ethics in health research in Lusaka, Zambia. PABIN aims to strengthen ethical awareness and discussion across the continent. PABIN envisioned improving the health of Africans through ethically-sound research, which protects study participants and their communities. In achieving this important health and ethical goals, PABIN is directed toward building competent and independent in-country ethical decision-making structures for health research, including addressing emerging ethical challenges related to AI and digital health technologies. It is primarily focused on the development of strong national ethical review system as well as providing regional GCP trainings.

In revitalizing PABIN, a consultative meeting was held at the Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI), the host institute of PABIN in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on December 26, 2024. Various stakeholders from AHRI, Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority (E-FDA), National Research Ethics Review Board (NRERB), Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), Addis Ababa University (AAU)-College of Health Sciences (CHS), Center for Innovative Drug Development and Therapeutic Trials for Africa (CDT-Africa), and Addis Center for Ethics and Priority Setting at AAU-CHS participated on the meeting.

The meeting focused on the ethical and regulatory review landscape of Ethiopia, a historical review of PABIN’s activities and achievements, and the master’s program on bioethics.  A lively discussion covered various related topics, contributing to the advancement of research ethics.

The meeting was concluded with follow up actions on important issues including:

• Strengthen the national IRB system, esp. NRERB
• MSc research ethics program support at AAU-SPH
• Implementing the SIDCER recognition program and training of surveyors
• Enhancing the online research ethics training modules

This meeting and the ongoing revitalization efforts of PABIN were funded by the Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (WHO–TDR).