Guest guest Posted March 27, 2005 Report Share Posted March 27, 2005 http://www.issuesinmedicalethics.org/nbc2005.html CALL FOR PAPERS/ABSTRACTS: Indian Journal of Medical Ethics NATIONAL BIOETHICS CONFERENCE Ethical challenges in health care: global context, Indian reality November 25, 26 and 27, 2005. YMCA, Mumbai Central, Mumbai, INDIA The Indian Journal of Medical Ethics completed 12 years of publication in 2004. During these years, it has contributed to and benefited from the emergence of bioethics as a distinct discipline in India. The IJME hopes to build upon this relationship through the National Bioethics Conference. The conference aims to establish a regular platform for coming together, sharing experiences, and fostering cooperation among individuals, organisations and institutions concerned with bioethics in India. Conference theme and focus sub-themes: Bioethics in India has developed in response to multiple influences. The community health movement has demanded universal access to basic health services and offered a critique of professionalisation, mystification and bureaucratisation in health care. The patients’ and consumers’ rights movement has drawn attention to commercialisation in health care and medical malpractice. The movement for rational therapeutics and drug price controls has analysed the conduct of the pharmaceutical industry and doctors’ prescription practices. The women’s movement has exposed the politics of population control and documented ethical violations in contraceptive trials. While these and other significant movements emerged from the specific political reality of India, they were - and still are - also a response to global changes in the health sector. The process of opening up the economy for global capital, the accelerated development of the corporate health sector, the phenomenal increase in cheap drug trials, the decline of public health sector and the rise in inequities – all these have complex national and global interconnections. Further, in India, they are strongly associated with an increase in violence, conflict and fundamentalism. It is in this general context that one must view the emerging ethical challenges in health care. Focus sub-themes: Within this broad theme providing the framework to deliberations at the conference, in-depth discussions will be held on the following focus sub-themes. (a) Ethical challenges in HIV/AIDS: The advancing epidemic of HIV/AIDS and the extremes of cultural, religious, professional and other social responses to it have posed severe ethical challenges in clinical practice, research, public health and health policy. Stigma and discrimination in social and occupational settings, and the intervention of people living with HIV/AIDS in defence of their human rights, have shaped both the ethical challenges and the response of health care providers. ( Ethics of life and death in the era of hi-tech health care: The increased investment in hi-tech health care has posed ethical challenges in public policy, resource allocation and addressing inequity. It has also highlighted ethical complexities in specific areas such as organ transplantation, artificial reproduction, euthanasia, palliative care and the use of sex selection technologies. © Ethical responsibilities in violence, conflict and religious strife: What are the tensions between health professionals’ religious, caste, ideological and other affiliations and their professional obligations, and how may they be resolved? The subject of health professionals’ ethical responsibilities in conflict situations is crucial, as is the question of researchers’ ethical responsibilities when undertaking studies in such situations. Cross cutting themes: Each of these sub-themes will be discussed in the context of clinical practice, research and public health. Discussions will also be informed by several cross cutting themes such as equity and access; culture and religion; laws and regulations; provision for ethics reviews and consultations, and so on. Structure of the conference The conference will be structured around morning plenary sessions with presentations by experts; parallel sessions for each focus sub-theme; and late afternoon/evening satellite sessions consisting of lectures, discussions, role-plays (such as mock ethics review boards or clinical consultations), films and cultural events. Organising Committee (OC): The Conference will be a collaborative effort. We are in the process of forming the OC for the Conference, which will be the decision making body and do the selection of papers/concept notes. Institutions, organisations and individuals interested in participating in this collaboration are requested to contact us before February 28, 2005. Submission of abstracts Abstracts/concept notes (not exceeding 300 words) on topics within the theme and focus sub-themes are invited from all who want to present papers or organise cultural events and satellite sessions. The last date for sending abstracts is June 30, 2005. Writers will be informed of the programme committee’s decision by July 31, 2005. Conference registration Registration fees are inclusive of conference material, lunch and tea/coffee for the three days of the conference. Registration fees are Rs 500 if paid before July 31, 2005 and Rs 800 thereafter. Accommodation For outstation participants, accommodation at the venue (YMCA International Guesthouse, Mumbai Central) is available in double occupancy rooms for Rs 1000 per day per person in air-conditioned rooms, and Rs 500 per day per person in non-air-conditioned rooms (both inclusive of breakfast and dinner). Please send abstracts/concept notes and all inquiries to: bioethics2005@... Anant Bhan E-mail: <dranantbhan@...> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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