WHO Research Ethics

Overview: For WHO research plays a crucial role in improving global health. Most of the research conducted by WHO takes place in low and middle-income countries where locally applicable findings are much needed. When research involves human participants, WHO is responsible for ensuring that it adheres to research ethics principles to safeguard the rights and welfare of research participants and communities while promoting responsible scientific advancement.

However, conducting research in these settings is challenging due to poverty, limited health access, and lack of resources. The diverse economic, social, and cultural backgrounds of research participants also raise complex ethical issues. To advance ethically sound research, Responsible Officers, researchers and research ethics committee members must be prepared to identify and respond appropriately to these challenges.

To support the WHO's commitment to promoting high-quality research, this course aims to enhance the capacity to promote ethically sound health-related research, including providing competent ethics review. By examining the key ethical considerations that arise in global health research and discussing how ethics concepts can be sensitively applied, this course seeks to ensure that research is conducted ethically and expertly reviewed.

Course duration: Approximately 5 hours.

Certificates: A Certificate of Achievement will be available to participants who score at least 80% of the total points available on the quiz. Participants who receive a Certificate of Achievement can also download an Open Badge for this course. Click here to learn how.

Acknowledgments: This e-learning course is developed by the WHO Ethics Review Committee Secretariat of the Global Health Ethics and Governance Unit in the Research for Health Department.

It is built on the foundations of an earlier course, and we gratefully acknowledge all of those involved in the development of that version. This version was developed under the direction of Katherine Littler. Ana Palmero led the revisions and the updating of the course materials with input and support from Susan Bull, Carla Saenz, and Marcie Neil.

We would like to thank the experts who took the time to review this course: Antonella Lavelanet, Voo Teck Chuan, Calvin WL Ho, Sofia Salas, Adetayo Emmanuel Obasa, Gonasagrie (Lulu) Nair, and Keymanthri Moodley. We also appreciate the WHO HQ Ethics Review Committee members and members of the ERC Secretariat, who also contributed to the course by sharing their expertise and experiences.