STATE OF THE ART OF DIGITALIZATION OF EVALUATION RESEARCH ETHICS COMMITTEES IN BENIN

Abstract

Many Research Ethics Committees (RECs) in Africa still operate in the traditional way, which limits their effectiveness. In 2016 in Benin although a digital transition had begun, RECs had not yet jumped on this bandwagon. However, COVID-19 exacerbated the shortcomings of the manual operation of the RECs, highlighting the need for their digitization. Thus, the AMELIORER project was implemented from 2021 to 2023 thanks to EDCTP support to strengthen the ethical capacities of the RECs. Several phases were implemented to initiate the process of digitizing the RECs. The RHInnO Ethics platform was chosen for its ability to meet the specific needs of African RECs, offering security and efficiency. The effects observed from the digitization of RECs were an increase in the number of protocols evaluated and a significant reduction in the time taken to obtain ethics opinions. However, challenges remain, not least concerns about data security.