Página 262 - Dimensiones éticas de las regulaciones en salud

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Implementing health research ethics
regulations: the Nigerian experience
Clement A. Adebamowo, Aminu A. Yakubu
Health Research in Nigeria
The need to institutionalize Health Research in Nigeria dates back to the
early 1970s when the Decree No 1 of 1972 for the establishment of the
Medical Research Council of Nigeria (MRCN) was enacted. This decree
was later subsumed under the National Science and Technology Develop-
ment Agency (NSTDA) by virtue of Decree No. 5 in 1977(1) . Nigeria
is one of a number of developing countries(2) to establish a mechanism
for Essential National Health Research (ENHR) which is promoted by
the Council on Health Research for Development and supported by the
World Health Organization (WHO). Thus ENHR is a concept that pro-
motes the development of locally driven research agenda which seeks to
address health related issues in a given country. The establishment of the
ENHR was therefore, an attempt to bridge the 10/90 gap and get devel-
oping countries to have a voice in setting the international health research
agenda(3) .
The Federal Ministry of Health, with the department of health planning
and research as the secretariat was responsible for implementing ENHR in
Nigeria. Over the years however, while research investments were on the
increase, the health research system did not keep with the pace as a result
of the low priority accorded health research by the Nigerian authorities.
The increases in research investments in the last decade from the WHO/
TDR, and other international organisation has since helped reawaken the
interest of the government in health research.