Consultation on the feasibility and ethics of specific, probable Controlled Human Infection Model study scenarios in India: A report

On March 6, 2019, a workshop was held as part of a larger public consultation exercise to evaluate the perceptions of participants from diverse backgrounds of studies involving Controlled Human Infection Models (CHIMs) (1,2) in India, through three specific case scenarios. This workshop was organised by the Health and Humanities Division of the St. John’s Research Institute, Bangalore with funding from the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (TSHTI), Faridabad (www.thsti.res.in), an autonomous institute of the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India This was an on-going effort of the Division to bring public discourse centre stage in the discussion on the use, ethics and regulations related to CHIM studies, and the introduction of such studies in India. Participants included epidemiologists, community/public health experts, microbiologists, infectious disease specialists, basic and translational scientists, ethicists, journalists and lawyers

An appraisal of the tuberculosis programme in India using an ethics.

This is a review of the manner in which the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) is being implemented, with a focus on the attention being paid to ethical principles and the incorporation of these into the programme. The article elucidates how ethical principles can be applied to protect the rights of the potential beneficiaries of the RNTCP. The authors consider the RNTCP in the light of a framework that is usually applied in research to evaluate ethical principles in public health practice. The three key principles of the framework are: respect for persons, beneficence and justice. The authors propose that this framework be used to make an ethical evaluation of other pu health programmes at several levels, since this could bring farreaching benefits to society.

Diagnosis of drug-resistant TB and provision of second-line TB treatment in India: some ethical considerations.

Background: The GeneXpert® MTB/RIF (hereinafter Xpert) test has demonstrated sensitive detection of tuberculosis (TB) and Rifampicin resistance directly from untreated sputum in less than two hours. India is currently drafting the third phase of its Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP). This process provides the country’s health authorities with an ideal opportunity to revolutionise TB management in the country. The RNTCP is currently conducting a multi–site demonstration study to gather operational evidence to scale up the Xperttest under Indian programme conditions.

Ethics in cluster randomised trials: a grey zone.

Cluster randomised trials (CRTs) are controlled trials in which the randomisation is applied to groups of individuals (clusters) as opposed to individual research participants. CRTs are increasingly being used in a wide variety of research with public health implications (including education). Well conducted CRTs can have a significant effect on policy-making. However, CRTs are only justified in specific circumstances where they might be considered suitable: this might be for reasons of scientific validity, feasibility, appropriateness, to reduce chances of contamination, etc.

Indian Medical Association: time to clean house.

The IJME editorial in the January-March 2011 issue calls on the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to reform itself in order to be able to play a more proactive role in health activism in the country. As the largest body representing (allopathic) doctors in India, the IMA can use the leverage of numbers and presence across the country to push for much needed health reform. This would be in line with its theme for the year as mentioned on its website “Be in Health, Be active in Public Health. “For this, the IMA needs to go beyond its current narrow focus on its primary constituency, doctors in private practice, to a more comprehensive approach to public health in the country.