Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Response to Rejoinder to “Ethical issue in the use of SMS messaging in HIV care and treatment in low- and middle-income countries: case examples from Mozambique”

Response to Rejoinder to “Ethical issue in the use of SMS messaging in HIV care and treatment in... Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 25(9), 2018, 1268 doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocy062 Advance Access Publication Date: 29 May 2018 Correspondence Correspondence Response to Rejoinder to “Ethical issue in the use of SMS messaging in HIV care and treatment in low- and middle- income countries: case examples from Mozambique” 1 1,2 1,3,4 1,5 Ezequiel B Ossemane, Troy D Moon, Martin C Were, and Elizabeth Heitman 1 2 Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health, Nashville, TN, USA, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA, Department of Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 4 5 Nashville, TN, USA, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA and Program on Ethics in Science and Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX, USA Received 20 April 2018; Editorial Decision 21 April 2018; Accepted 25 April 2018 To the editor: Drs Inguane and Nala have questioned the language we used We appreciate the time and attention that Drs Inguane and Nala where we stated “local capacity for ethical study design and over- have taken to read and respond to our paper “Ethical Issues in the sight is still limited.” We would like to be very clear that in no way Use of SMS messaging in HIV care and treatment in low- and were we questioning the quality of ethical review provided by the middle-income countries: case examples from Mozambique” (Osse- National Bioethics Committee for Health (CNBS) in Mozambique, mane et al., 2018; 25(4): 423-7.) and we regret any such implication. The co-authors of this manu- The goal of our paper was to call attention to the complex ethi- script (Moon and Heitman) are very familiar with Mozambique’s cal issues raised by the rapidly expanding use of mobile communica- ethical review process described by Drs Inguane and Nala and with tion technologies (mHealth), such as SMS messaging, in health care each of the 6 newer, institutional committees established under in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We are aware that CNBS. In fact, for the past 5 years, the NIH grant cited at the end of relatively little has been published in the biomedical informatics lit- the manuscript has funded capacity-building programs for these erature about the ethical questions that these new technologies can committees with trainings on research ethics and research integrity. raise. Our target audience, which led to our choice of publication With the collaboration and guidance of the CNBS, we have been with JAMIA, was professionals in biomedical informatics, who we helping to establish a network of research ethics professionals across argue have a responsibility to recognize and address the ethical Mozambique who can address specialized research ethics topics, aspects of how their skills, technologies, and processes are used. such as mHealth. I (Ossemane) am a Mozambican researcher myself, with over 10 Drs Inguane and Nala point out that these new institutional re- years of experience using health informatics technologies in some of search ethics committees are currently allowed to “approve” only rel- Mozambiques most rural and resource-constrained environments. atively simple protocols, and that they refer more complex protocols We chose to highlight 2 case examples from Mozambique because it to the CNBS for a final designation. This requirement highlights the is 1) the location I am most familiar with and 2) for the sole purpose very point that we were trying to make, that not all local research of grounding our larger discussion. Drs Inguane and Nala are quite ethics committees in Mozambique have the experience or expertise correct that the issues illustrated in these case studies could have oc- needed to fully address all emerging challenges in research ethics; in curred in many different countries where mHealth initiatives are in- other words, local capacity is still limited. This fact does not diminish creasingly popular and where international collaborators may have the careful, high-quality oversight that the CNBS provides in both limited appreciation of local conditions. We did not intend to pre- technical expertise and in modeling good practice for the newer, less sent “evidence” or document inappropriate activity or inadequate established institutional committees as they develop. However, it is ethical oversight. Rather, we hoped to promote JAMIA’s readers’ within this context that our comments and recommendations were consideration of some unanticipated ethical consequences of new made. We respectfully accept the critiques provided by Drs Inguane mHealth technologies in 2 publicly available examples. and Nala and hope we have better clarified our positons. V The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/jamia/article-abstract/25/9/1268/5025051 by Ed 'DeepDyve' Gillespie user on 04 September 2018 http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association Oxford University Press

Response to Rejoinder to “Ethical issue in the use of SMS messaging in HIV care and treatment in low- and middle-income countries: case examples from Mozambique”

Download PDF
1 page

Loading next page...
 
/lp/oxford-university-press/response-to-rejoinder-to-ethical-issue-in-the-use-of-sms-messaging-in-cGIIXKGRig

References (0)

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com
ISSN
1067-5027
eISSN
1527-974X
DOI
10.1093/jamia/ocy062
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 25(9), 2018, 1268 doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocy062 Advance Access Publication Date: 29 May 2018 Correspondence Correspondence Response to Rejoinder to “Ethical issue in the use of SMS messaging in HIV care and treatment in low- and middle- income countries: case examples from Mozambique” 1 1,2 1,3,4 1,5 Ezequiel B Ossemane, Troy D Moon, Martin C Were, and Elizabeth Heitman 1 2 Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health, Nashville, TN, USA, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA, Department of Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 4 5 Nashville, TN, USA, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA and Program on Ethics in Science and Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX, USA Received 20 April 2018; Editorial Decision 21 April 2018; Accepted 25 April 2018 To the editor: Drs Inguane and Nala have questioned the language we used We appreciate the time and attention that Drs Inguane and Nala where we stated “local capacity for ethical study design and over- have taken to read and respond to our paper “Ethical Issues in the sight is still limited.” We would like to be very clear that in no way Use of SMS messaging in HIV care and treatment in low- and were we questioning the quality of ethical review provided by the middle-income countries: case examples from Mozambique” (Osse- National Bioethics Committee for Health (CNBS) in Mozambique, mane et al., 2018; 25(4): 423-7.) and we regret any such implication. The co-authors of this manu- The goal of our paper was to call attention to the complex ethi- script (Moon and Heitman) are very familiar with Mozambique’s cal issues raised by the rapidly expanding use of mobile communica- ethical review process described by Drs Inguane and Nala and with tion technologies (mHealth), such as SMS messaging, in health care each of the 6 newer, institutional committees established under in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We are aware that CNBS. In fact, for the past 5 years, the NIH grant cited at the end of relatively little has been published in the biomedical informatics lit- the manuscript has funded capacity-building programs for these erature about the ethical questions that these new technologies can committees with trainings on research ethics and research integrity. raise. Our target audience, which led to our choice of publication With the collaboration and guidance of the CNBS, we have been with JAMIA, was professionals in biomedical informatics, who we helping to establish a network of research ethics professionals across argue have a responsibility to recognize and address the ethical Mozambique who can address specialized research ethics topics, aspects of how their skills, technologies, and processes are used. such as mHealth. I (Ossemane) am a Mozambican researcher myself, with over 10 Drs Inguane and Nala point out that these new institutional re- years of experience using health informatics technologies in some of search ethics committees are currently allowed to “approve” only rel- Mozambiques most rural and resource-constrained environments. atively simple protocols, and that they refer more complex protocols We chose to highlight 2 case examples from Mozambique because it to the CNBS for a final designation. This requirement highlights the is 1) the location I am most familiar with and 2) for the sole purpose very point that we were trying to make, that not all local research of grounding our larger discussion. Drs Inguane and Nala are quite ethics committees in Mozambique have the experience or expertise correct that the issues illustrated in these case studies could have oc- needed to fully address all emerging challenges in research ethics; in curred in many different countries where mHealth initiatives are in- other words, local capacity is still limited. This fact does not diminish creasingly popular and where international collaborators may have the careful, high-quality oversight that the CNBS provides in both limited appreciation of local conditions. We did not intend to pre- technical expertise and in modeling good practice for the newer, less sent “evidence” or document inappropriate activity or inadequate established institutional committees as they develop. However, it is ethical oversight. Rather, we hoped to promote JAMIA’s readers’ within this context that our comments and recommendations were consideration of some unanticipated ethical consequences of new made. We respectfully accept the critiques provided by Drs Inguane mHealth technologies in 2 publicly available examples. and Nala and hope we have better clarified our positons. V The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/jamia/article-abstract/25/9/1268/5025051 by Ed 'DeepDyve' Gillespie user on 04 September 2018

Journal

Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association – Oxford University Press

Published: Sep 1, 2018

There are no references for this article.