Professor Velma Newton (centre), Regional Project Director of the IMPACT Justice Project, chaired the IMPACT Justice/CARPHA meeting held to discuss model legislation, to regulate research involving human participants. Presenters for the session were, Dr. Derrick Aarons (left), Ethicist at CARPHA and Lydia Atkins, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Epidemiology Unit, Ministry of Health, Wellness, Human Services and Gender Relations in St. Lucia.
In attendance at the workshop was Dr. Alafia Samuels (right), Deputy Dean, Research, Faculty of Medical Sciences at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, who noted the need to protect the region’s people from predatory researchers.
The Canadian Government funded Improved Access to Justice in the Caribbean (IMPACT Justice) Project and the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) collaborated this week, to sponsor a meeting to discuss model legislation, to regulate research involving human participants.
The regional meeting, which was held in the Tides Room of the Radisson Aquatica Resort on Wednesday, was chaired by Professor Velma Newton, Regional Project Director of the IMPACT Justice Project.
“I first became aware of the need to regulate research involving human participants in the region, in March 2016, when wearing my hat as Officer-in-Charge of the Caribbean Law Institute Centre, I was involved in a project funded by Health Canada, to assist in developing a functional drug regulatory framework for the Caribbean Regulatory System,” Professor Newton pointed out.
“Discussions with Dr. [James] Hospedales, [Executive Director of CARPHA] and Dr. [Derrick] Aarons [Ethicist at CARPHA] led to IMPACT Justice becoming interested in and agreeing to fund this meeting, the objective of which is to discuss what is needed for the purpose of drafting model legislation” Professor Newton added.
She meanwhile noted that in 2008, Guyana passed regulations under its Medical Practitioners Act, which included two short regulations on medical practitioners and biomedical research and human organ transplantation. In 2016, St. Lucia passed a clinical Trials Act and a draft Human Research Regulatory Act was also prepared by Dr. Derrick Aarons prior to that.
“Other legislation may exist in the CARICOM region, but if so, we overlooked it and would like you to tell us about it. It will be of interest to hear what in your views, are the good points, the omissions and otherwise of the legislation before you,” she told participants from ten regional countries, including Barbados.
In attendance at the workshop was Dr. Alafia Samuels, Deputy Dean, Research, Faculty of Medical Sciences at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill. She stressed that such a workshop was very important, as there needed to be some level of harmonisation as it relates to the legislation regulating research involving human participants, across the islands of the Caribbean.
“There are predatory people out there who want to do research and are looking for any opportunity to come into a country and use the people and the resources to do questionable research and we really have to protect our people against that,” Dr. Samuels told The Barbados Advocate. (RSM)