The revised SARETI III training program based at University of KwaZulu-Natal will build advanced African capacity for the ethical review and implementation of health research, and will continue to strengthen African capacity to sustain this aim. SARETI offers a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary, Africa-based Masters degree in health research ethics. The SARETI training program comprises a multi-disciplinary, modular Masters degree with funding for 19 trainees over the 5-year period of this award. More students will enroll for modules or degrees on a self- funded basis. The core of this intensive and advanced training program consists of: i) face-to-face modular coursework; ii) practical work with local ethics review committees (IRBs) and a leading NIH-funded African HIV/AIDS focused research centre (CAPRISA) funded by NIAID, FIC, and NIMH; iii) attendance of an intensive US-based bioethics program through the Johns Hopkins Bioethics Institute and the Kennedy Institute of Ethics; and iv) completion of an expanded research project on a topic relevant to health research ethics at the trainee's home institution or country, leading to submission to a peer-reviewed journal. After each year SARETI will support one top trainee to attend a unique four-week internship placement in Geneva at 1) COHRED/MARC, 2) the Ethics Review Committee of the World Health Organisation and 3) at the Faculty of Health Law at the University of Neuchtel and TRREE, to consolidate their training and receive exposure to various top quality global research ethics related units and activities. In year five of the programme, SARETI will arrange its third Africa-wide Health Research Ethics Symposium (AHRES III) to allow trainees to share their scholarly work and ethics review experiences with their peers, to increase the African impact and networking of the SARETI training program, and to strengthen Africa's voice in this field. The 19 SARETI Masters (Research Ethics) graduates and SARETI faculty will contribute to the ethical conduct of appropriate health research and development in Africa by building IRB capacity, by training IRB members and researchers, and by promoting the global development and profile of African research ethics scholarship. The SARETI support programme ensures continuous development of Africa-based faculty. UKZN has expertise in Medicine, Psychology, Medical Sciences, Law, Human Rights, Philosophy, Ethics, Theology, Bioethics and Research Ethics, and has been providing high quality education in health research ethics since SARETI was launched in 2003. SARETI has strong links with African countries, the UK and the European Union to ensure a truly global applied perspective.
The South African Research Ethics Training Initiative (SARETI) is the oldest and most established African-based Masters program in the field of health research ethics. The program equips African public health professionals with the education and practical experiences needed to provide sound ethics review of the increasingly numerous and complex health studies taking place in Africa. Since SARETI started in 2003 we have graduated 9 Masters (with 11 approaching completion), one PhD and 17 non-degree fellows, and are now applying for a third cycle of Fogarty funding to enroll a further 19 Masters students.
