Ministry sets medical research guidelines

NAMIBIA yesterday launched a set of guidelines and a research management policy that researchers could use when doing clinical studies on HIV positive people or other sicknesses.

Since Independence, the Ministry has conducted research without an explicit policy and the activities were not well co-ordinated. This contributed to an ineffective management of research activities and duplication of some topics.”We are on time.Everyone is knocking at our doors to come and do research on HIV-AIDS.We must get involved,” said Health Minister Dr Libertina Amathila when she launched the guidelines and a research management policy.It covers not only HIV-AIDS but also research into diseases such as… Amathila said the guidelines and a research management policy will assure that researchers and those involved in trials that involve people will safeguard participants and gather high-quality data.The guidelines state that the clinical trials can only be initiated and continued “if the anticipated benefits justify the risks.”.Health Under-secretary Dr Norbert Forster said the new research policy would help avoid ethically and technically unacceptable research and minimise duplication.He said it would also ensure that participants were properly informed (usually in writing) before the research, that confidentiality and anonymity was assured and would benefit the research subjects.This contributed to an ineffective management of research activities and duplication of some topics.”We are on time.Everyone is knocking at our doors to come and do research on HIV-AIDS.We must get involved,” said Health Minister Dr Libertina Amathila when she launched the guidelines and a research management policy.It covers not only HIV-AIDS but also research into diseases such as… Amathila said the guidelines and a research management policy will assure that researchers and those involved in trials that involve people will safeguard participants and gather high-quality data.The guidelines state that the clinical trials can only be initiated and continued “if the anticipated benefits justify the risks.”.Health Under-secretary Dr Norbert Forster said the new research policy would help avoid ethically and technically unacceptable research and minimise duplication.He said it would also ensure that participants were properly informed (usually in writing) before the research, that confidentiality and anonymity was assured and would benefit the research subjects.