Research bioethics training in Bangladesh

The Bangladesh Medical Research Council is implementing a training program on research bioethics under International Bioethics Education and Career Development Award of Fogarty International Center of National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA. The ultimate goal of the program is to improve ethical practice in implementation of health research through capacity strengthening of the professionals involved in health research in Bangladesh. The duration of the program is 4 years and it has started from the year 2002. The first year (2002-2003) was assigned for curriculum development. Several workshops, focus group discussions and consultative meetings were organized during 2002-2003 and curriculum was developed. Under this training program every year 2 Certificate Courses on Research Bioethics (CCRB) with a duration of 10 weeks will be conducted for 40 participants (20 participants in each batch). Each year one Advance Course on Research Bioethics (ACRB) will be organized for 10 participants with a duration of 6 days. The courses are to be conducted during 2nd, 3rd and 4th year. The Certificate Course on Research Bioethics is intended for multidisciplinary participants having previous experience in research methodology while the Advance Course on Research Bioethics will target for training the members of Ethics Review Committees of the country. Through this program one hundred fifty Bangladeshi professionals will get adequate training on research bioethics. The training program will be implemented by national experts with technical assistance from distinguished international scientists in the field.