Is Your Global Health Research Ethical?

With increasing interest in global health research among students at Yale and other academic institutions in high-income countries, pre-departure ethics training in global health research is becoming more urgent. In this study, Dr. Kaveh Khoshnood, co-lead of the Global Health Ethics Program at Yale Institute for Global Health, and his colleagues interviewed graduate and undergraduate students at Yale who conducted short-term research in Low-and-Middle Income-Countries and report findings about ethical challenges the students encountered as well as their level of awareness and preparedness regarding these challenges. The study findings highlight a deficit in training, supervision and support for the ethical challenges inherent in global health research. And, how educators and practitioners, need to develop today’s trainees into tomorrow’s champions of equity and ethical conduct in global health.