The Africa Ethics Working Group (AEWG): a model of collaboration for psychiatric genomic research in Africa

Dorcas Kamuya; Mary A Bitta; Adamu Addissie; Violet Naanyu; Andrea Palk; Erisa Mwaka; Eunice Kamaara; Getnet Tadele; Telahun Teka Wolde; Janet Nakigudde; Kiran Manku; Rosemary Musesengwa; Ilina Singh

doi:10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16772.1

The Africa Ethics Working Group (AEWG): a model of collaboration for psychiatric genomic research in Africa

Wellcome Open Res. 2021 Jul 27:6:190. doi: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16772.1. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Dorcas Kamuya¹, Mary A Bitta^{2

3}, Adamu Addissie⁴, Violet Naanyu⁵, Andrea Palk⁶, Erisa Mwaka⁷, Eunice Kamaara⁸, Getnet Tadele⁹, Telahun Teka Wolde¹⁰, Janet Nakigudde¹¹, Kiran Manku³, Rosemary Musesengwa³, Ilina Singh³

Affiliations

¹ KEMRI-WELLCOME TRUST RESEARCH PROGRAMME, Kilifi, Kenya.
² Clinical Research-Neurosciences, Centre for Geographic Medicine Research (Coast), KEMRI/Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya.
³ Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
⁴ Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences,, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
⁵ Department of Sociology Psychology & Anthropology, School of Arts & Social Sciences, Eldoret, Kenya, Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya.
⁶ Department of Philosophy,, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa.
⁷ Department of Anatomy, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
⁸ School of Arts and Social Sciences, Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya.
⁹ Department of Sociology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
¹⁰ Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
¹¹ College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.

Abstract

The Africa Ethics Working Group (AEWG) is a South-South-North collaboration of bioethics and mental health researchers from sub-Saharan Africa, working to tackle emerging ethical challenges in global mental health research. Initially formed to provide ethical guidance for a neuro-psychiatric genomics research project, AEWG has evolved to address cross cutting ethical issues in mental health research aimed at addressing equity in North-South collaborations. Global South refers to economically developing countries (sub-Saharan Africa in this context) and Global North to economically developed countries (primarily Europe, UK and North America). In this letter we discuss lessons that as a group we have learnt over the last three years; lessons that similar collaborations could draw on. With increasing expertise from Global South as an outcome of several capacity strengthening initiatives, it is expected that the nature of scientific collaborations will shift to a truly equitable partnership. The AEWG provides a model to rethink contributions that each partner could make in these collaborations.

Keywords: Collaborative working groups; Research partnerships; Genomic research; Bioethics of psychiatric research.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Stanley Centre at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT [HQR01031]. DK’s salary is funded by the Wellcome Trust [205419, https://doi.org/10.35802/205419]. MB is funded by the Wellcome Trust [203077, https://doi.org/10.35802/203077, 107769, https://doi.org/10.35802/107769]. RM is supported by The Stanley Centre at the Broad Institute if Harvard and MIT [HQR01031] and the Wellcome Trust [203132, https://doi.org/10.35802/203132]. IAS is supported by the Wellcome Trust [104825, https://doi.org/10.35802/104825], and the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities, which is supported by core funding from the Wellcome Trust [203132, https://doi.org/10.35802/203132]; and the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre [IS-BRC-1215-20005].