Abstract / Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed important gaps in research governance and pandemic preparedness globally, demonstrating the need for stronger regulatory frameworks, operational procedures and coordinated oversight to support rapid, ethical and scientifically rigorous research during public health emergencies. Evidence indicates that many research ethics committees (RECs) globally, lacked clear operational guidance for conducting urgent research ethics reviews, leading to variability in decision-making across institutions. This resulted in uneven ethics review processes and standards, delays in the approval of time-sensitive research, and uncertainty in navigating complex research ethics challenges. In South Africa, limitations in national research ethics guidance contributed to these challenges. The National Department of Health (NDoH, 2015) guidelines did not include directions for REC functioning during public health emergencies. In addition, the National Health Research Ethics Council’s (NHREC’s) absence for a significant period during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a lack of coordinated national research ethics oversight, further weakening the research ethics review process. Some RECs adapted their standard operating procedures (SOPs) and established collaborative mechanisms to facilitate rapid ethics reviews.