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Sixth Edition of CLEAR VIEW Newsletter Released!  Click here
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CAMBIN, In Partnership with CLEAR, Gets Awarded an EDCTP Grant

Monday, January 23, 2012
In November 2011, CAMBIN, in partnership with CLEAR, was awarded a grant by the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) to strengthen ethical review of clinical research in Cameroon.  The project is titled “Documenting existing structures, processes, resources and needs of research ethics committees in Cameroon and implementing a training intervention to strengthen ethical review capacity for participating committees”. 

The idea for this project was sparked by ethical controversies that have occurred in Central Africa concerning the conduct of clinical trials over the last decade.  Internationally-publicized scandals such as the Tenofovir clinical trial have brought to light the dismal state of ethical review of clinical trials in Cameroon. The Tenofovir study intended to test the use of Tenofovir to prevent HIV infection recruited sex workers as trial participants in Cameroon. The study was heavily criticized by activists groups, the media and research experts for failing to meet ethical guidelines.  Those in charge of the study failed in not having documents translated in languages understood by all potential participants; not providing clear information on HIV prevention and thereby unduly exposing participants to HIV; not making treatment available to participants in case of contracting HIV while participating in the study; not assuring that participants clearly understood that they may be part of a group receiving placebo and not the experimental drug.  Highlighting the weaknesses and gaps present in the ethical review process for research in this region, the study had received ethical clearance from the Cameroon National Ethics Committee.

Having a clear understanding of the need for greater capacity and improvement in the ethics review process of clinical research in Africa, EDTCP has allocated funds for enhancing the ability to conduct clinical trials in Africa which led to the CAMBIN award.  Briefly, the awarded grant will consist of the following:
  • To conduct a survey of Ethics Committees (ECs) and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) that will  generate information on their functioning in terms of general characteristics of the structure and composition, ethics training, adherence to policies, workload, process of ethics review, perceived threats and opportunities to effective functioning, and financial and material resources. 
  • The implementation of a structured training intervention tailored to fill gaps identified by the survey.  The training will include a short-term, self-directed training, programs with curricula available online for free such as training program offered by Family Health International (FHI), two training workshops for “hot topics” identified through analysis of survey results, Online discussion forum (i.e. yahoo groups) to enhance knowledge exchange and networking.

CLEAR and CAMBIN have a common aim which is to enhance ethics in the conduct of clinical research in Africa.  It is highly recognized that clinical research studies performed in the area will increase knowledge of various illnesses affecting health, aid in the development of new tools to prevent or treat these illnesses, as well as, help in developing infrastructures necessary for improved healthcare delivery.  New drugs and treatments can only be developed and made available to the public through clinical trials.  In other words, the necessity of clinical research in sub-Saharan African is inarguable.  With this grant, a step is made towards assuring clinical studies are conducted with enhanced quality for the benefit of all stakeholders including the patients and affected community.
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Fifth Edition of CLEAR VIEW Newsletter Released!  Click here
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CLEAR President Joins Executive Committee of ISHReCA

Friday, October 7, 2011
CLEAR President Sylvie Kwedi joins executive committee of the Initiative to Strengthen Health Research Capacity in Africa (ISHReCA).  ISHReCA is an African-led initiative aimed at building a strong foundation for health research in Africa. ISHReCA was born out of consultative meetings between African researchers and research funders and aims to serve as a forum for African scientist to collate ideas to capacity building, and to speak to funders collectively.

ISHReCA lays emphasis on a comprehensive approach to capacity building that leads to sustained increase recruitment, training and retention of African scientist.

3 key purposes of the initiative:

  • A forum for African health researchers to discuss capacity building needs and approaches. These discussions will be used to negotiate with funders' innovative initiatives for capacity building and to give feed back to funders on current capacity building initiatives.
  • A resource tool for providing up to date information on capacity building to African health researchers.
  • A tool for collecting information for an African Health Researchers database to facilitate development of collaboration networks.
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Forth Edition of CLEAR VIEW Newsletter Released!  Click here
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Third Edition of CLEAR VIEW Newsletter Released!  Click here
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Second Edition of CLEAR VIEW Newsletter Released!  Click here
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