Zusammenfassung: This open access casebook addresses complex and important ethical challenges arising when health-related research in conducted in the context of epidemics and pandemics. This book provides contextually-rich real-world case studies illustrating research ethics issues encountered by researchers, ethics reviewers and regulators around the globe during the COVID-19 pandemic. The accompanying commentaries outline relevant conceptual approaches and ethical considerations. These promote understanding and reflection on relevant ethical issues, ethical approaches and competing considerations in a manner supporting thoughtful evaluation of their implications for practice. As such the casebook is relevant to academic and professional audiences with an interest in global health, research ethics, and outbreaks and epidemics

In September 2022, in tandem with the Global Summit of National Ethics Committees [LINK] in Lisbon, Portugal, the Health Ethics & Governance Unit hosted a workshop to explore experiences of research ethics review during COVID-19 with representatives from over 20 countries. The objectives of the meeting were: - to identify what worked and did not work in terms of research ethics review during COVID-19; - to discuss clinical trial designs such as adaptive trials and their impact on research ethics review during COVID-19; - to draft recommendations for various stakeholders and a report on the workshop findings; and - to contribute to a possible revision of WHO’s guidance for research ethics committees for rapid review of research during public health emergencies. It was agreed that additional guidance about ethical review in emergencies was not required, other than for specific issues such as new trial methods. Rather, research ethics committees need to be better prepared, better resourced, and better connected. Attention should be paid to improving relations between research ethics committees and other parts of the research ecosystem; clarifying roles and responsibilities and improving coordination at all levels; retaining and building on flexible systems and approaches developed during the pandemic; and ensuring that research ethics committees have the necessary resources to contribute effectively to the shared aim of ethical,effective research. For more detail see the meeting report [LINK] and an article in BMC Medical Ethics, co-authored by all the speakers at the meeting.

The WHO website has an introductory description for the Guidance. It states that the WHO Guidance on Research Methods for Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management (Health EDRM) was developed to address the need to promote high quality research methods to those who commission and conduct research on Health EDRM. The intended audience includes decision makers, practitioners, and community actors who need for evidence-based policy and practice to implement the Health EDRM Framework, Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, the International Health Regulations (2005), the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other relevant global, regional and national frameworks. Chapters have been written by more than 100 international authors with practical experience and expertise in a wide range of areas including research, practice and policy making. The unique collection of chapters provides straightforward and practical guidance on how to plan, conduct and report a wide variety of studies that can answer quantitative and qualitative questions in different emergency settings. Case studies of direct relevance to Health EDRM provide real-life examples of research to illustrate the methods and their impact. The book was revised in 2022 with an additional chapter on how to use this book in the context of COVID-19 pandemic.