Integrating public health ethics into participatory research with vulnerable populations: Experiences from rural India

A recent editorial in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization (Coleman et al., 2007) underscored the need for greater scrutiny of ethics in public health and practice, which would go beyond traditional medical ethics – adopting a population perspective that considers the broad social determinants of health. This presentation aims to address this challenge by examining how to integrate ethics within low-income countries in general and vulnerable populations living in poor countries in particular. We examine key issues within the context of our ongoing efforts of incorporating ethics into participatory research with the Paniya tribe, an indigenous group in rural India. The presentation has three parts. First, we describe the Paniya population, including their vulnerability, needs, and social structure that shaped the particular approach to ethical conduct undertaken in the initiative. Second, we outline the processes (e.g. procedures to seek community as well as individual consent, and consultation with community representatives) and the tools (e.g. Code of Ethics) we employed to promote ethical and culturally appropriate research. Third, we discuss the key ethical challenges that have arisen with respect to both undertaking collaborative research in India and in working with the local Paniya community.