– The goal of the project is to develop country-based and global agendas for a just and practicable post-trial arrangements (PTA) for low and middle income countries (LMICs) during epidemic/pandemic situations. During, and even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was scrambling to provide the necessary health care to its citizens. There was a lack of an agenda and a system, both on national and international levels, Rosemarie de La Cruz Bernabe, professor at Centre for Medical Ethics at the University of Oslo says.
The research project «Pandemic Ethics – Developing national and global agendas for the ethics of post-trial arrangements in LMICs during pandemics/epidemics» recently received 11 999 000 NOK from The Research Council of Norway.
The project will be ongoing for four years, starting July 2023 and continuing until 2027. The research consortium consists of partners from four continents: Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, with partners from the Philippines, Nepal, India, Kenya, Tanzania and Brazil. Currently the project is in the grant preparation stages.
Low-income countries taking the brunt during the COVID-19 pandemic
– Many drug clinical trials and other health interventions studies happened during the pandemic because we needed the vaccines and the health care as soon as possible, but the world was not ready for an emergency like this, Bernabe says.
The pandemic has shown that during emergency situations, low- and middle-income countries take the brunt. In lower income countries, a year after vaccines were made available, less than 20 percent had at least one dose of the vaccine, compared to 60-70 percent in high-income countries.
– In addition to vaccine nationalism, countries providing vaccines to their own citizens first, there was a lack of global and national governance during the pandemic. We need governance and procedures based on equity to assure that the most vulnerable receive health care on time, Bernabe explains.
Pandemic Ethics will bring together the voices of stakeholders from the different countries and continents. First to understand their needs, perspectives and desires about how the global order should be. Second to develop national and global governance agendas on post-trial responsibilities during emergency situations.
Bernabe coordinates several research projects
Aside from Pandemic Ethics, Bernabe is/will also be coordinating several different research projects, mostly from the University of Oslo.
- Responsible Open Science in Europe (ROSiE) (Horizon 2021 project, 2021-2024).
- Access Africa: Improving post-trial access in Africa (EDCTP project, 2020-2024).
- Ethics in Research and Clinical Practice (ETHIMED) (NORPART project, 2021-2026).
- The Equitable, Inclusive, and Human-Centered XR Project (XR4Human) (Horizon Europe project, 2022-2025). Bernabe coordinates this from the University of South-Eastern Norway, though UiO is a partner.
Advice for researchers applying for financial support
Bernabe encourages researchers who are applying for financial support for the first time to ask for help and spend time on meaningful networking. This is Bernabe's advice for researchers applying for financial support:
- Do not be disheartened by failure. Ask for help when needed. You have people in your department working in your own or in adjacent fields. If you do not get what you need from someone when asking for help, ask a different person until you find the necessary support.
- Spend time networking in your field and in related areas.
- Know your worth. Don’t let setbacks pull you down. Remember that researchers who are good at this had to go through the same baptism by fire.
- Spend time learning the grant writing process.
- Have that passion to contribute to the field and the world.
Bernabe explains that when writing the proposals for her current projects, junior researchers were essential to win the grants.
– ETHIMED, AccessAfrica, and Pandemic Ethics were partly drafted by wonderful junior colleagues at UiO.