Abstract
BackgroundThe establishment of international collaborative research partnerships in times of infectious disease outbreaks of international importance has been considered an ethical imperative. Frail health research systems in low- and middle-income countries can be an obstacle to achieve the goal of knowledge generation and the search for health equity before, during and after infectious disease outbreaks.MethodsA qualitative case study was conducted to identify the challenges and opportunities facing the Dominican Republic with regards to developing international collaborative research partnerships in the context of the Zika outbreak and its ethical implications. Researchers conducted 34 interviews (n = 30 individual; n = 4 group) with 39 participants (n = 23 males; n = 16 females) representing the government, universities, international donor agencies, non-governmental organisations, community-based organisations and medical societies, in two metropolitan cities.ResultsFive international collaborative research projects related to the Zika virus were identified. Major ethical challenges were linked to the governance of health research, training of human resources, the institutionalisation of scientific activity, access to research funds and cultural aspects. Capacity-building was not necessarily a component of some partnership agreements. With few exceptions, local researchers were merely participating in data collection and less on defining the problem. Opportunities for collaborative work included the possibility of participation in international research consortiums through calls for proposals.ConclusionsThe Dominican government and research stakeholders can contribute to the international response to the Zika virus through active participation in international collaborative research partnerships; however, public recognition of the need to embrace health research as part of public policy efforts is warranted. A working group led by the government and formed by national and international research stakeholders will be key to identify ways in which the country could respond to the ethical demand of generating new knowledge in times of outbreaks.
Highlights
The establishment of international collaborative research partnerships in times of infectious disease outbreaks of international importance has been considered an ethical imperative
Our analysis resulted in five broad categories of challenges, and ethical implications, that can affect the possibility of implementing health research partnerships in the Dominican Republic (Box 1)
The participant said that they sent the information regarding the call for application directly to the Ministry of Health (MoH), and yet they could not identify someone at the MoH that was informed of this opportunity
Summary
The establishment of international collaborative research partnerships in times of infectious disease outbreaks of international importance has been considered an ethical imperative. There is an account of the existence of a ‘science of collaboration’ with an evergrowing literature describing the conceptual basis, types, motivation for partnerships, and pros and cons of research collaborations [5, 6]. Those commenting favourably on research collaboration suggest that it allows the gaining of experience and benefiting from the abilities of others, it lowers the costs of scientific instrumentation, it provides access to information technology that facilitates professional exchange, and increases the quality of work and topic specialisation, among other advantages [5, 6]. Dangers involved in international research collaborations have been identified elsewhere and are an important part of the research ethics literature in relation to informed consent, biobanking regulations, data sharing, benefit sharing, post-trial access, what constitutes a good or bad research collaboration, etc. [7,8,9,10,11,12,13]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
