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International Capacity‐Building Initiatives for National Bioethics Committees
Author(s) -
Gefenas Eugenijus,
Lukaseviciene Vilma
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
hastings center report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.515
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1552-146X
pISSN - 0093-0334
DOI - 10.1002/hast.711
Subject(s) - bioethics , political science , capacity building , engineering ethics , public administration , law , engineering
During the last two decades, national bioethics committees have been established in many countries all over the world. They vary with respect to their structure, composition, and working methods, but the main functions are similar. They are supposed to facilitate public debate on controversial bioethical issues and produce opinions and recommendations that can help inform the public and policy‐makers. The dialogue among national bioethics committees is also increasingly important in the globalized world, where biomedical technologies raise ethical dilemmas that traverse national borders. It is not surprising, therefore, that the committees are established and active in the technologically advanced countries. There have also been a few international capacity‐building initiatives in bioethics that have had a dual task: networking among existing national bioethics committees and helping establish such committees in those countries that still lack them. The problem is that, due to a lack of information, it is not clear what problems and challenges committees face in the transitioning societies often characterized as low‐ and middle‐income countries .