Ethical issues for biobanking in LMICs

Biobanking, the sharing of samples for research purposes, is an emerging area in LMICs. The issue of broad, un-specified consent needs to be addressed, as well as consent given by parents on behalf of their children. We also need to ensure that biobanking doesn’t increase the inequity between developed and developing countries, and that community perceptions about biobanking ultimately feed into policies, guidelines and ethical frameworks.

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I am a Wellcome Trust Society & Ethics fellow, conducting empirical ethics research examining if and how communities could be engaged on complex ethical topics, with bio-banking as a case study. Other areas I am involved include developing ethical frameworks on Controlled Human Infection Studies for LMIC. As a social science researcher in LMIC, my research interests span two interrelated areas: the value of community and public engagement in health research, and ethical dilemmas for frontline research workers. I am primarily based at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) in Kilifi, Kenya. I currently chair the Health Systems and Research Ethics Department, and co-lead the Health Systems Research theme in the Programme.

I am a member of several collaborative initiatives including Board Member of International Association of Bioethics (IAB); Global Health Bioethics Network, H3Africa Community Engagement working group, Africa Ethics Working Group (AEWG) on Neuro-ethics research, among others. My research work is shared through a growing list of publications, presentations in many national and international meetings and conferences.