Developing Countries and Bioethical Research

Abstract

According to some estimates, less than 10 percent of the world's biomedical research-and-development funds are dedicated to addressing problems that are responsible for 90 percent of the world's burden of disease. What is more, some observers think that the focus of bioethical discussions is biased toward ethical problems that affect wealthy, developed nations.1 This imbalance could be explained in part by the scarcity of authors who live in developing countries. Our research has looked into whether there is a serious underrepresentation of investigators from the developing world in publications in the field of bioethics.