The process of developing new drugs typically involves clinical trials. When a new medication, vaccine, or similar product has been developed, researchers must ensure that they are effective and safe for people to use. To experimentally test that a drug produces the intended effect, most clinical trials use a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design. In this type of experiment, some people are assigned by chance to the active intervention and others are assigned by chance to a controlled comparison group. RCTs usually measure the efficacy of the intervention, or its ability to produce the desired effect. There has recently been an increase in funding and research in the efforts to develop an Ebola immunization (Rojek & Horby, 2017). However,
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To develop a therapy for the Ebola virus, research studies should be supervised by ethics committees to ensure that these ethical considerations are met. Beneficence means that the study should be beneficial to the participants and their communities and do no harm, or nonmaleficence. To ensure beneficence, a drug or immunization for Ebola must benefit the most affected communities and have the potential to effectively reduce the burden of disease. It would not be ethical to conduct a study that could harm the community or participants in some way. Respect for persons would also be necessary for clinical trials of an Ebola therapy. Potential participants should always have the autonomy to choose whether or not they want to volunteer to participate in the study. Additionally, they should all be given information about the potential risks and benefits of participation. In the case of Ebola, some of the most affected communities have very low SES, making them vulnerable to being taken advantage of (Fallah et al., 2015). It would be unethical for researchers to purposely test drugs on vulnerable populations; it must always be a voluntary and autonomous decision. Distributive justice aims to ensure that populations that bear the risks of research participation should have access to the benefits of that research. This is a key factor in …show more content…
In the case of an Ebola epidemic, individuals contribute to reducing the burden of the disease by engaging in healthy behaviors such as going to the hospital or reporting susceptible people that they were in contact with. Communities affected by Ebola also have the responsibility of attempting to control the spread of disease. In the most recent epidemic, community health care workers kept track of the infected, isolating them and tracing their contacts (Fallah et al., 2015). The contacts were also monitored for development of the disease. The monitoring and isolation of infected people were effective methods for reducing the transmission of the disease. One major source of Ebola transmission in the most recent epidemic was through traditional funeral services. The burials often brought susceptible people in contact with infected bodily fluids, providing an opportunity for infection. In attempts to prevent this kind of postmortem transmission, both community and individual efforts had to be made to arrange safe funeral services. At the national and international level, scientists, policymakers, and public health organizations work together to create and disseminate health technologies as well as track and address emerging infectious disease problems. To address the Ebola epidemic, many international organizations sent in
To develop a therapy for the Ebola virus, research studies should be supervised by ethics committees to ensure that these ethical considerations are met. Beneficence means that the study should be beneficial to the participants and their communities and do no harm, or nonmaleficence. To ensure beneficence, a drug or immunization for Ebola must benefit the most affected communities and have the potential to effectively reduce the burden of disease. It would not be ethical to conduct a study that could harm the community or participants in some way. Respect for persons would also be necessary for clinical trials of an Ebola therapy. Potential participants should always have the autonomy to choose whether or not they want to volunteer to participate in the study. Additionally, they should all be given information about the potential risks and benefits of participation. In the case of Ebola, some of the most affected communities have very low SES, making them vulnerable to being taken advantage of (Fallah et al., 2015). It would be unethical for researchers to purposely test drugs on vulnerable populations; it must always be a voluntary and autonomous decision. Distributive justice aims to ensure that populations that bear the risks of research participation should have access to the benefits of that research. This is a key factor in …show more content…
In the case of an Ebola epidemic, individuals contribute to reducing the burden of the disease by engaging in healthy behaviors such as going to the hospital or reporting susceptible people that they were in contact with. Communities affected by Ebola also have the responsibility of attempting to control the spread of disease. In the most recent epidemic, community health care workers kept track of the infected, isolating them and tracing their contacts (Fallah et al., 2015). The contacts were also monitored for development of the disease. The monitoring and isolation of infected people were effective methods for reducing the transmission of the disease. One major source of Ebola transmission in the most recent epidemic was through traditional funeral services. The burials often brought susceptible people in contact with infected bodily fluids, providing an opportunity for infection. In attempts to prevent this kind of postmortem transmission, both community and individual efforts had to be made to arrange safe funeral services. At the national and international level, scientists, policymakers, and public health organizations work together to create and disseminate health technologies as well as track and address emerging infectious disease problems. To address the Ebola epidemic, many international organizations sent in