International ethical standards

-WMA Declaration of Helsinki – Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Participants (Oct. 2024)

-International ethical guidelines for health-related research involving humans (CIOMS and PAHO, 2017)

-The Revision of the declaration of Helsinki viewed from the Americas—Paving the way to better research (Oct. 2024).

-An ethics call for the inclusion of pregnant women in research (Pan American Journal of Public Health, 2016)

Research ethics indicators in the Americas

-Strengthening national research ethics systems in the Americas to improve its ethics preparedness and response to emergencies  (Kaleidoscope of Global Bioethics, Conselho Nacional de Ética para as Ciências da Vida, 2023)

-Research ethics systems in Latin America and the Caribbean: a systemic assessment using indicators (The Lancet Global Health, 2022)

-Indicators for strengthening national research ethics systems (PAHO, 2021). Also available in Spanish | French | Portuguese

-Advancing research ethics systems in Latin America and the Caribbean: a path for other LMICs? (The Lancet Global Health, 2019)

Research Ethics Committees

-Questions to guide the ethics analysis of research involving humans (PAHO, 2025). Also available in Portuguese and French.

-Tool for the accreditation of research ethics committees (PAHO, 2023). Also available in Spanish | Portuguese | French

-Standards and operational guidance for ethics review of health-related research with human participants (2011 / Published by PAHO in Spanish)

Research in emergencies

-Key criteria for the ethical acceptability of controlled human infection studies during public health emergencies (WHO, 2026)

-Ethics Review Challenges in Research Ethics in Epidemics and Pandemics: A Casebook (Springer Nature, 2024)

-Catalyzing Ethical Research in Emergencies: Recommendations for research ethics committees (2023). Available in Spanish

-Catalyzing Ethical Research in Emergencies: Recommendations for health authorities (2023). Available in Spanish

-Catalyzing ethical research in emergencies. Ethics guidance, lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, and pending agenda. Summary (2022). Available in Spanish | French | Portuguese

-Catalyzing ethical research in emergencies. Ethics guidance, lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, and pending agenda (2022). Available in Spanish | French | Portuguese

-Guidance and strategies to streamline ethics review and oversight of COVID-19 related research (2020)

-Operational guidance and template for the ethics review and oversight of COVID-19-related research (2020)

-Ethics guidance on issues raised by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic (2020)

-Key criteria for the ethical acceptability of COVID-19 human challenge studies (2020)

-Emergency use of unproven interventions outside of research: Ethics guidance for the COVID-19 pandemic (2020)

-How can research transparency be promoted? actions for national health authorities during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020)

-Guidance for ethics oversight of COVID-19 research in response to emerging evidence (2020)​​​​​

-Pregnant women & vaccines against emerging epidemic threats. Ethics guidance for  preparedness, research, and response (PREVENT - Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, 2018)

Strengthening Clinical Trials

-Regional template for clinical trial agreement (PAHO, 2025). Also available in Portuguese.

-Guidance for best practices for clinical trials (WHO, 2024)

-Advancing collaborative research for health: why does collaboration matter? (Aug. 2024)

-Final report of the regional workshop: Strengthening clinical trials to provide high-quality evidence on health interventions, and to improve research quality and coordination (PAHO, 2023)

-The landscape of COVID-19 clinical trials in Latin America and the Caribbean: assessment and challenges (Pan American Journal of Public Health, 2020)

Training materials

-Casebook on ethical issues in international health research (WHO, 2009)