Table 1.
A research agenda for the ethics of global health research priority-setting
| Domain of Priority-setting | Research Questions | Indicative Sub-questions |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | What relationship should exist between global health research priority-setting processes at global, national, funder, consortia, and institutional levels? | • When is a bottom-up approach ethically preferable to a top-down approach to connect the different levels of priority-setting? |
| What ethical considerations arise and how should they be addressed for global health research priority-setting processes of varying scope? | • At the national level, which research priorities should attract public sector funding and which should be left to the market or philanthropies? | |
| Substantive | To advance the value of health justice, what substantive criteria should guide global health research priority-setting at different levels? | • What weights should be assigned to the substantive criteria that guide global health research priority-setting? • What tensions arise between substantive criteria and how can they be navigated? |
| What is the best way to specify the substantive criteria that promote health justice and should their specification vary between priority-setting at different levels? | • How should we understand and measure health needs in the global health context? • How should cost-effectiveness be defined in global health research contexts? |
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| What other values should be pursued through global health research priority-setting at different levels and how do they relate to health justice? | • To advance those other values, what substantive criteria should guide global health research priority-setting? • What tensions exist between these criteria and those that advance health justice? |
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| Procedural | What is the right process for making decisions about global health research priorities at the different levels? | • What deliberative norms should apply in global health research priority-setting and how should procedural requirements reflecting them be specified? • Are additional procedural requirements ethically required to achieve fairness and justice? |
| Who should initiate and lead global health research priority-setting at the different levels? | • Which actors, donors or institutions should lead or control global health research priority-setting processes? • What is the role of the international scientific community in priority-setting processes? |
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| Who should participate in global health research priority-setting and how should they participate at the different levels? | • What is required to achieve fully inclusive global health research priority-setting? • Should external actors be allowed to participate in national and institutional global health research priority-setting? • Is community engagement necessary at each level of priority-setting? • What is the nature and purpose of community engagement in global health research priority-setting? |