Claims contact person unprofessional

MBABANE – The contact person for the sexual orientation and gender identity study at AfricaScope has been accused of being unprofessional.

Rudolph Maziya, Chairperson of the Eswatini Health and Human Research Review Board, indicated that communication with the contact person for the sexual orientation and gender identity study at AfricaScope could at best be described as unusual and unproductive.

Maziya alleged that the communication style of the official had been disrespectful, combative and patronising in general.

“It therefore does not surprise me that he has opted to prosecute his case on pages of a newspaper than engage the appeal process which I am aware the ministry advised him to follow,” said Maziya. He insisted that the inconvenience the study had experienced was as a result of its own failure to comply with approval conditions.

“What I find interesting is that unlike this individual, the listed researchers on the study in question have been supportive and cooperative with the assessment, exactly the behaviour which is expected from professional researchers.

Review

“The person who brought the complaint to your paper about the suspension of their study must know that we review many studies and this is the first one we have had to suspend. He should also know that I consider his behaviour to be out of step with the behaviour of the research professionals we deal with on a daily basis,” said Maziya. Also, he said he got the impression that the contact person was not used to playing by the rules.

“Researchers know that professional research includes respect for research ethics review structures, processes and decisions. Unfortunately, this individual appears not to even understand the concept of independence of research ethics boards in all countries, which is dictated by international standards.

The need for independence is meant to guard exactly against the behaviour he is exhibiting,” said Maziya.

It should be noted that the Eswatini Health and Human Research Review Board was announced by Minister of Health Lizzie Nkosi last year with a mandate to receive, review and approve research.

The minister also issued a schedule for application fees where local corporations such as pharmaceutical and insurance companies could pay as much as E10 000 for an application to conduct such research.

The 13- member Board was appointed through Legal Notice No. 48 of 2020.

The Board, according to the gazette, has the authority to take action against research studies that breached approval positions and further take action against researchers who implement unapproved research studies.

Integrity

According to the Legal Notice, some of the functions of the Board would be to receive, review and approve research protocols for ethical integrity.

The gazette further states that the Board shall provide advice and guidance on bioethics issues to the research community and build technical capacity or researchers and Institutional Review Boards on bioethics.

According to Section 4 of the government gazette the Board shall charge an application fee to every person or entity whether private or public intending to conduct research in the country.

The Board, while executing its duties, shall, with the authority of the principal secretary ( PS) in the Ministry of Health, open an official bank account into which all application fees shall be deposited.

The gazette states that any person or entity that applies for a review and clearance of health research protocols shall provide proof of payment of application fees as part of the application package without which applications shall not be processed.