Engaging the global community in health ethics

The Health Ethics & Governance unit is working together with the Global Network of WHO Collaborating Centres for Bioethics, a well-established network of institutions in diverse locations across the world. The expertise of these centres enriches the support WHO provides to countries in this area. The collaborating centres are the eyes and ears of the unit, ensuring WHO is up-to-date on the most pressing ethical issues in each region and also the latest research in bioethics.

WHO's Health Ethics & Governance unit also provides the permanent secretariat for the Global Summit of National Bioethics Committees. An increasing number of countries have created official bodies to advise their parliamentarians, and often the general public, about bioethics. Termed "National Commissions", "Advisory Committees", they are appointed by Chief Executives, Ministers of Health, and legislatures, to analyse and offer conclusions and recommendations about current issues in bioethics, and the ethics of health more generally, especially as such issues bear on potential needs to develop national policies and to adopt legislation. WHO's Health Ethics & Governance unit supports national ethics committees by developing guidance in response to their needs and facilitating communication, collaboration and exchange between national ethics committees from around the world to help countries respond to shared ethical challenges.

Another significant outreach initiative is the Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Ethics Network (PHEPREN). Led by the World Health Organization and supported by key partners including the Fogarty International Center, Global Forum on Bioethics in Research, Global Health Network, Global Network of WHO Collaborating Centres and Wellcome,  PHEPREN is a global community of bioethicists building on pre-existing expertise and resources to provide real-time, trusted, contextual support to communities, policymakers, researchers, and responders in relation to the ethical issues arising out of global health emergencies, with a current focus on the COVID-19 pandemic.

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