Health Research Ethics
Protection of human research subjects is of paramount importance for sustaining health research to advance public health. A key feature of current research ethics governance systems is the establishment of research ethics committees (REC) at the institutional level to review the research proposal prospectively.
The advance of science behind public health depends to a large extent on participation of human subjects in health research. However, that implies responsibility on the part of researchers to protect the interests of human research participants not only to maintain the public trust in health research for people to continue to participate in health research, but also because no scientific interest can be held above the rights of human research participants.
The Western Pacific Region is a very diverse region both in terms of the type of health research undertaken and potential resources and capacity to assess and review all ongoing research. Hence, this webpage serves as a resource for countries developing systems optimal to their contexts.