Table 1. Selected results, survey of 87 national ethics committees, 84 countries, 2018.
| Parametera | Value |
|---|---|
| General (n = 87) | |
| Affiliation, no. of committees (%) | |
| Ministry of health | 48 (55.2) |
| Government | 25 (28.7) |
| Ministry of education | 10 (11.5) |
| UNESCO | 10 (11.5) |
| Establishment, no. of committees (%) | |
| Legal act | 46 (52.9) |
| Government | 41 (47.1) |
| Links to government, no. of committees (%) | |
| Appointment of members | 61 (70.1) |
| Funding | 56 (64.4) |
| Premises | 46 (52.9) |
| Appointment of chair | 41 (47.1) |
| Under direct governmental oversight | 15 (17.2) |
| Membership (n = 87) | |
| Members, median (IQR) | 15 (12–20) |
| Female members, median (IQR) | 6 (4–8.25) |
| Members’ background, no. of committees (%) | |
| Medicine | 85 (97.7) |
| Ethics or philosophy (academia) | 72 (82.8) |
| Law | 67 (77.0) |
| Other social sciences | 63 (72.4) |
| Activity (n = 87) | |
| Meetings each year, median (IQR) | 8 (3.75–12) |
| Publications of opinions, reports, policy recommendations or a combination (no.),b median (IQR) | 2 (0.5–5.5) |
| Involvement in preparation of work and decisions, no. of committees (%) | |
| Receipt of expert technical advice | 77 (88.5) |
| Literature reviews | 72 (82.8) |
| Stakeholder hearings | 58 (66.7) |
| Public consultations | 29 (33.3) |
| Decision-making method, no. of committees (%) | |
| Consensus only | 45 (51.7) |
| Voting only | 9 (10.3) |
| Both or mixed | 31 (35.6) |
| Contributions to: | |
| health-related laws and regulations, median (IQR) | 1 (0–2) |
| health-related policies, median (IQR) | 1 (0–3) |
| Funding | |
| Proportion of funding coming from government,c median (range) (n = 82) | 90 (0–100) |
| Number of sources, no. of committees (%) (n = 74) | |
| > 1 | 30 (40.5) |
| > 2 | 8 (10.8) |
| Secretariat | |
| Secretariat available, no. of committees (%) (n = 87) | 79 (90.8) |
| Funding of secretariat, no. of committees (%) (n = 79) | |
| Directly by government | 42 (53.2) |
| Through committee’s operational budget | 24 (30.4) |
| Review fee | 3 (3.8) |
| Parliament | 2 (2.5) |
| Tasks, no. of committees (%) (n = 79) | |
| Organizing meetings | 72 (91.1) |
| Preparing responses | 60 (75.9) |
| Preparing written opinions, reports and policy recommendations | 56 (70.9) |
| Staff (no.), median (IQR) | 3 (2–5) |
| Full-time equivalent employees | |
| Available, median (IQR) | 2 (1–3.5) |
| Needed, median (IQR) | 4 (2–5.5) |
| Ratio of staff available to staff needed,d average | 0.65 |
| Committees whose needs were met (i.e. ratio: ≥ 1), no. (%) (n = 77) | 12 (15.6) |
| Compensation of staff, no. of committees (%) (n = 79) | |
| Fixed salary | 50 (63.3) |
| Attendance fee | 13 (16.5) |
| Reimbursement of travel costs | 22 (27.8) |
| No financial compensation | 15 (19.0) |
| Public relations and engagement (n = 87) | |
| Annual press releases,e median (IQR) | 0 (0–2) |
| Cooperation with broadcast media (no. occasions),f median (IQR) | 1.5 (0–3.25) |
| No press releases and no cooperation with broadcast media, no. of committees (%) | 31 (35.6) |
| Estimated proportion of bioethics topics involving the committee in 2017 that were picked up by the country’s media, no. of committees (%) | |
| 75–100% | 6 (6.9) |
| 50–74% | 6 (6.9) |
| 24–49% | 12 (13.8) |
| 0–24% | 45 (51.7) |
| No estimate | 18 (20.7) |
| Website used, no. of committees (%) | |
| Own | 47 (54.0) |
| Government | 30 (34.5) |
| Social media use, no. of committees (%) | |
| 8 (9.2) | |
| 4 (4.6) | |
| 1 (1.1) | |
IQR: interquartile range; UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
a Full survey findings are available from the online data repository.16
b Overall, 24.1% (21/87) of committees published no opinions, reports or policy recommendations in 2017.
c The average proportion of funding that came from government was 58.9%.
d The standard deviation was ± 0.79 and the range was 0–5.
e Overall, 55.2% (48/87) of committees issued no press releases in 2017 and 12.6% (11/87) issued more than four.
f Overall, 39.1% (34/87) of committees cooperated with broadcast media on no occasions, whereas 23.0% (20/87) cooperated on more than four occasions