UNESCO assists its Member States in establishing and developing infrastructures for bioethics, from the adoption of standard setting instruments to the development of relevant national institutions and capacity building thereof. In line with this ethical mandate of the Organization, a three days capacity-building workshop in bioethics was organized for Institutional Ethics Review Committees (IRECs) from universities and research institutions in Kenya, facilitated by the Kenya National Commission for UNESCO (KNATCOM) through the UNESCO Participation Programme, from 15 to 17 March 2022 at Egerton University, Nakuru, Kenya.

About 40 participants were gathered for this training, in their capacity as members of Ethics Review Committees from universities such as Laikipia, Kabarak, Maseno, Masinde Muliro, Jomo Kenyatta, Kenyatta, Aga khan, Nairobi, Egerton, Mont Kenya, etc., but also hospitals and institutions such as JOORTH, KEMRI, KNCHR, MMUST, TENWEK, USIU-Africa, AMREF, NACOSTI, etc.

This workshop addressed challenges faced by IRECs Members on aspects of standards of research ethics in the review of research proposals and protocols, regulation and dilemmas related to biomedical research, inadequate capacity building and poor use of scientific or technological advances, including on UNESCO normative instruments in bioethics.

These gaps were confirmed by the results of a "Rapid Assessment Survey on the level of knowledge of IERCs of the UNESCO bioethics normative instruments" commissioned by the Kenya National commission for UNESCO and presented during the workshop. It revealed that less than half of the IERCs members were aware of the UNESCO normative instruments, of which 16.7% were from hospitals. In addition, only 15.4% of the IERCs members will refer to the UNESCO normative instruments during research approvals, while a majority of the research institutions (71.4%) and of the hospitals (50%) will not.

This workshop therefore introduced UNESCO normative instruments on bioethics. It outlined key principles and values as well as scope of application for the Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights (1997), International Declaration on Human Genetic Data (2003), Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights (2005), Declaration on Ethical Principles in relation to Climate Change (2017) and Recommendation of Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (2021). Besides, the Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers (2017) was also presented.

This workshop was officially opened by the KNATCOM Board Chair, Dr. Herbert Misigo Amatsimbi, after a welcome address from Prof. Bockline Omedo Bebe, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Extension) representing Prof. Isaac Ongubo Kibwage, HSC., Vice Chancellor of Egerton University. Intervening on this occasion, UNESCO representative, Mr Ngandeu Hugue, Programme Specialist for Social and Human Sciences outlined UNESCO work on Bioethics and Ethics of Science and Technology around the five main functions of the Organization; Laboratory of Ideas, Standard Setter, Clearing House, Capacity Builder and Platform for International Cooperation. He applauded the innovative use made by KNATCOM of the UNESCO Participation Programme to support this initiative, and welcomed this event at Egerton University, as the institution is host to the UNESCO Chair on Bioethics. In her remarks, Dr. Evangeline Njoka, Secretary-General of KNATCOM reiterated the timeliness of addressing ethical challenges using UNESCO bioethics normative tools in the work IRECs, especially in the COVID-19 pandemic era and beyond.

Participants unanimously welcomed this workshop and called for more of similar initiatives, to keep them abreast of major developments in this specialized area and to empower them to carry out their duties and responsibilities more effectively, in accordance with internationally agreed ethical standards.

An Action Plan was elaborated as a major outcome from this workshop, to better coordinate and support the work of IRECs Members, while articulating further with the National Bioethics Committee of Kenya established with the support of UNESCO under the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI).