Clinical ethics is a practical discipline that offers a structured approach to help healthcare providers and professionals identify, analyze, and resolve ethical issues that arise in clinical practice. Over the past decade, clinical ethics has gained increasing prominence within the broader field of global health ethics. The COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, has highlighted numerous clinical ethics challenges, ranging from resource allocation at the bedside to the provision of unproven therapies. Although the World Health Organization (WHO) has occasionally addressed specific clinical ethics issues through its ethics guidance, there remains a lack of comprehensive, general WHO guidance on clinical ethics and its governance. The need for such a document has been repeatedly expressed by various technical departments and the Global Network of WHO Collaborating Centers for Bioethics.

The upcoming WHO Clinical Ethics Guidance is being developed to support a wide range of stakeholders. These include member states and health policymakers, WHO technical departments, healthcare workers (including both medical professionals and non-professional health personnel), health facility administrators, international and national professional medical organizations (such as medical councils and professional associations), healthcare workers' unions, ethics oversight agencies, related UN agencies, the medical education and biomedical research sectors, non-governmental and civil society organizations (including patients' rights advocacy groups), and other relevant entities. The guidance will provide comprehensive direction on the governance of ethical issues in clinical practice, ensuring that ethical considerations are effectively integrated into healthcare systems globally.

While clinical ethics encompasses a broad spectrum of issues, from general to highly specific topics, this document will focus on key ethical issues of global importance, particularly those related to clinical ethics governance. Recognizing the critical role governance plays in shaping ethical systems in clinical environments, the guidance will emphasize the need for robust frameworks that support ethical decision-making in healthcare settings.

To develop this guidance, WHO has consulted with an internal steering committee and the Global Network of WHO Collaborating Centers for Bioethics. An international expert group has been formed, with members representing all WHO regions. This working group is responsible for drafting the initial version of the guidance. In addition to the independent experts on the committee, representatives from observer organizations—including the World Medical Association, the International Council of Nurses, and the World Patient Alliance—have been invited to participate in the working group.