With developed country governments and high resource institutions engaging in research in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), we argue that these entities have a moral obligation to help build and strengthen research infrastructure and capacity so local scientists and institutions can adequately conduct studies to understand and resolve the health burdens in low and middle income countries. We explore the moral justifications and motivations behind engaging in research capacity strengthening in the health sector in LMIC at multiple levels. In highlighting these issues, this paper aims to initiate a global discourse around why capacity development in LMIC has a moral basis at the individual, institutional and system levels.
N.Ravishankar, P.Gubbins, R. J.Cooley, K.Leach-Kemon, C. M.Michaud, D. T.Jamison and C. J.Murray, “Financing of Global Health: Tracking Development Assistance for Health from 1990 to 2007,”The Lancet373, no. 9681 (2009): 2113-2124.
See Lansang and Dennis, supra note 2; J. A. G.Whitworth, G.Kokwaro, S.Kinyanjui, V. A.Snewin, M.Tanner, M.Wal-port and N.Sewankamboe, “Strengthening Capacity for Health Research in Africa,”The Lancet372, no. 9649 (2008): 1590-1593.
12.
S.Bennett, T.Adam, C.Zarowsky, V.Tangcharoensathien, K.Ranson, T.Evans, A.Mills, and Alliance STAC, “From Mexico to Mali: Progress in Health Policy and Systems Research,”The Lancet372 (2008): 1571-1578; S. Bennett, L. Paina, C. Kim, I. Agyepong, S. Chunharas, D. McIntyre, and S. Nachuk, “What Must Be Done to Enhance Capacity for Health Systems Research?” available at <http://healthsystemsresearch.org/hsr2010/images/stories/4enhance_capacity.pdf> (last visited February 9, 2017).
13.
V.Igneski, “Perfect and Imperfect Duties to Aid,”Social Theory and Practice32, no. 3 (2006): 439-446.
14.
See Igneski, supra note 13.
15.
A. M.Viens, “Public Health, Ethical Behavior and Reciprocity,”American Journal of Bioethics8, no. 5 (2008): 1-3; discussion: W1-3.
16.
L.Montada, “Understanding Oughts by Assessing Moral Reasoning or Moral Emotions,” in G. G.Noam and T. E.Wren, eds., The Moral Self (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1993): at 292-309; E. Donnerstein, M. Donnerstein, and G. Munger, “Helping Behavior as a Function of Pictorially Induced Moods,” Journal of Social Psychology 97 (1975): 221-225.
17.
J. P.Tangney, J.Stuewig, and D. J.Mashek, “Moral Emotions and Moral Behavior,”Annual Review of Psychology58, (2007): 345-372.
18.
J.Kroll and E.Egan, “Psychiatry, Moral Worry, and the Moral Emotions,”Journal of Psychiatric Practice10, no. 6 (2004): 352-360.
19.
See Tangney, Stuewing, and Mashek, supra note 17.
20.
C. B.Ijsselmuiden, N. E.Kass, K. N.Sewankamb, and J. V.Lavery, “Evolving Values in Ethics and Global Health Research,”Global Public Health5, no. 2 (2010): 154-163; S. R. Benatar and P. A. Singer, “Responsibilities in International Research: A New Look Revisited,” Journal of Medical Ethics 36, no. 4 (2010): 194-197.
21.
C.Gould, “Transnational Solidarities,”Journal of Social Philosophy38, no. 1 (2007): 146-162.
22.
See Gould, supra note 21.
23.
Id., at 157.
24.
S. G.Post, ed., Altruism and Health: Perspectives from Empirical Research (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).
25.
A.Williams, “Intergenerational Equity: An Exploration of the ‘Fair Innings’ Argument,”Health Economics6, no. 2 (1997): 117-132.
26.
N.Daniels, “Justice, Health, and Healthcare,”American Journal of Bioethics1, no. 2 (2001): 2-16.
27.
N.Daniels, Just Health: Meeting Health Needs Fairly (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008).
28.
B.Pratt, D.Zion, and B.Loff, “Evaluating the Capacity of Theories of Justice to Serve as a Justice Framework for International Clinical Research,”American Journal of Bioethics12, no. 11 (2012): 30-41.
29.
Id.; B.Pratt and B.Loff, “A Framework to Link International Clinical Research to the Promotion of Justice in Global Health,”Bioethics28, no. 8 (2014): 387-396.
30.
T.Pogge, World Poverty and Human Rights: Cosmopolitan Responsibilities and Reforms (Cambridge, MA: Polity Press, 2008).
