West African Bioethics Training Program: Raison D'être.

There has been increase in the amount of research and services provided for diseases that are predominantly prevalent in developing countries. In addition, the amount of clinical trials conducted in developing countries for diseases in general and for those that contribute substantial proportions of the disease burden of the population has increased. Furthermore, interest in genomics and its potential for improving understanding of gene-environment-disease interactions and population history has drawn researchers to developing countries including Africa. These factors have highlighted the need for sound ethics training for researchers and members of ethics review committees. Increased training of bioethicists will enhance the contributions of developing countries bioethicists to the global research ethics discourse thereby enriching it. Such bioethicists will be able to drawn on their rich multicultural and multi-religious to inform discussions and issues. In this essay, I discuss the West African Bioethics Training, a United States National Institutes of Health supported training program for biomedical researchers and bioethicists in West Africa.