Ethical guidelines and regulations
The Population Council's mission is to improve the well-being and reproductive health of current and future generations around the world and to help achieve a humane, equitable, and sustainable balance between people and resources.
The Population Council aspires to the highest professional and ethical standards and has earned a worldwide reputation for excellence and integrity.
Policymakers, program managers, and others concerned with population, reproductive health, and development turn to the Council for its rigorous research results that improve people's lives.
The Population Council requires that all studies (unless exempt) involving human subjects be reviewed by its Institutional Review Board (IRB) before research is initiated. The purpose of this review is to ensure that appropriate steps are taken to protect the rights and welfare of the individuals who participate as subjects in a study.
All Council investigators involved in studies that are reviewed by its IRB must provide proof of completion of a recent, approved ethical training course.
The Council’s IRB has 12 members, whose expertise includes bioethics, biomedical engineering, demography, health care, HIV and AIDS, international relations, law, obstetrics/gynecology, physiology, public policy, regulatory affairs, and social psychology. It meets six times per year.
In addition to the IRB, the Population Council’s general counsel and secretary and its global head of regulatory affairs and quality assurance ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations in all countries in which research activities are conducted.
As well as ensuring that the Council’s own work is conducted with maximum adherence to ethical standards, Council researchers contribute to the peer-reviewed literature on ethical research and improve methodologies to secure informed consent from trial volunteers.
Council staff also provide training to developing-country professionals on research ethics and publications ethics as part of an operations research skills course.
Offsite links
Ethical principles, dilemmas and risks in collecting data on violence against children: A review of available literature (offsite PDF)
Child Protection Monitoring and Evaluation Reference Group
Publication date: 2012
Evaluation of the informed consent process for male circumcision scale-up in Zambia (PDF)
Friedland, Barbara A.; Apicella, Louis; Schenk, Katie D.; Sheehy, Meredith; Hewett, Paul Publication date: 2011
Informed consent in HIV prevention trials: Highlights from an international workshop (PDF) (PDF en français) (PDF en español) (PDF no português) (PDF in Swahili) (PDF in Zulu)
Publication date: 2008
Decision making and the influences of others in the informed consent process: A qualitative investigation in the Phase 3 study of Carraguard® (PDF)
Poster presented at Microbicides 2008, New Delhi, 24-27 February
Abbott,Sharon; Friedland,Barbara A.; Katzen,Lauren; de Kock,Alana; Madiba,Sphiwe; Cishe,Sheila
Publication date: 2008
Evaluation of a video to enhance the informed consent process in the Phase 3 Carraguard® trial (PDF)
Poster presented at Microbicides 2008, New Delhi, 24-27 February
Friedland,Barbara A.; Skoler,Stephanie; de Kock,Alana; Katzen,Lauren; Apicella,Louis; Williams,Manuela M.; Mehlomakulu,Vuyelwa; Mtimkulu,Vuyelwa
Publication date: 2008
Male partner involvement in the Carraguard® Phase 3 trial: Data from a qualitative study of the informed consent process (PDF)
Poster presented at Microbicides 2008, New Delhi, 24-27 February
Madiba,Sphiwe; Friedland,Barbara A.; Abbott,Sharon; Katzen,Lauren; de Kock,Alana; Cishe,Sheila
Publication date: 2008
Operations Research for Managers of Reproductive Health Programs (more)
Research course
Publication Date: 2008
Ethics Module from Operations Research for Managers of Reproductive Health ProgramsInstructor’s: Guide and Slides | Student Handouts
Research course
Publication Date: 2008
Informed consent in sterilisation services: Evidence from public and private health care institutions in Chennai (PDF)
Rajalakshmi
Health and Population Innovation Fellowship Programme Working Paper (no. 4)
Publication Date: 2007
Provider perspectives on informed consent in female sterilisation services: Findings from a facility-based study in Chennai (PDF)
Rajalakshmi
Health and Population Innovation Fellowship Programme Working Paper (no. 3)
Publication Date: 2007
Learning through conflict: Ethical debates in sexual and reproductive health (PDF)
Townsend,John W.
Studies in Family Planning 38(4): 225-228
Publication Date: 2007
A question of ethics: Research and practice in reproductive health (PDF)
RamaRao,Saumya; Friedland,Barbara A.; Townsend,John W.
Studies in Family Planning 38(4): 229-241
Publication Date: 2007
Informed consent in HIV prevention trials: Report of an international workshop (PDF)
McGrory,C.Elizabeth; Friedland,Barbara A.; Woodsong,Cynthia; MacQueen,Kathleen M.
Publication date: 2006
Protecting children's rights in the collection of health and welfare data (PDF)
Schenk,Katie D.; Murove,Tapfuma; Williamson, Jan
Health and Human Rights 9(1): 81-100
Publication Date: 2006
Ethical Approaches to Gathering Information from Children and Adolescents in International Settings: Guidelines and Resources (PDF)
Schenk,Katie D.; Williamson,Jan
Publication Date: 2005
Informed consent: From good intentions to sound practices—A report of a seminar (PDF)
Wood,Susan Y.; Friedland,Barbara A.; McGrory,C.Elizabeth
Robert H. Ebert Program on Critical Issues in Reproductive Health Publication Series
Publication date: 2002
Putting women's safety first: Ethical and safety recommendations for research on domestic violence against women (PDF)
Publication Date: 1999
Ethical challenges in efficacy of vaginal microbicides for HIV prevention (abstract)
De Zoysa,Isabelle; Elias,Christopher J.; Bentley,Margaret E.
American Journal of Public Health 88(4): 571-575
Publication date: 1998
Practical and ethical dilemmas in the clinical testing of microbicides: A report on a symposium
Heise,Lori L.; McGrory,C.Elizabeth; Wood,Susan Y.
Publication date: 1998
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