Developing normative guidance to address ethical challenges in global health

Ethical considerations cut across all areas of health, and this is reflected in the wide range of health topics addressed by WHO's ethics guidance. WHO has developed disease-specific guidance on ethical considerations relating to vector-borne diseases, Ebola, HIV, tuberculosis and COVID-19. Other priorities include the ethics of public health surveillance, human genome editing, digital technologies in health, ageing and universal health coverage. Ethical issues relating to research are an important focus, including implementation research, human challenge studies, research indicators, and research during outbreaks and emergencies. Furthermore, WHO’s Health Ethics & Governance unit provides feedback and ethics input into other WHO guidelines, training courses, manuals and policy briefs on topics such as epidemic and emergency response, research and clinical practice.

WHO Member States need ethical guidance that can be applied to a wide range of situations in very different demographical, cultural, socioeconomic and geographical contexts, and WHO is committed to making normative guidance which can be adapted to suit Member State needs. WHO is greatly assisted in this aim through the Health Ethics & Governance unit's engagement activities.

The Health Ethics & Governance unit works together with the Global Network of WHO Collaborating Centres for Bioethics, which is a well-established network of institutions distributed throughout the world and with relevant expertise in this field. These institutions represent a valuable resource as an extended and integral arm of WHO's capacity to implement its ethics mandate and ensure that its normative guidance is current, responsive, inclusive and of excellent quality.

WHO's Health Ethics & Governance unit also provides the permanent secretariat for the Global Summit of National Bioethics Committees. By facilitating communication, collaboration and exchange between national ethics committees, WHO stays abreast of the current ethical concerns their countries have and responds to these needs.

Health Ethics & Governance Unit
Research for Health Department
Division of the Chief Scientist 
World Health Organization
20, Avenue Appia
CH-1211 Genève 27
Switzerland ct_ethics@who.int