{"title":"Ethical Issues Conducting Research During War and Violent Conflict: A Review","authors":"Dónal O'Mathúna, Emily E. Anderson","doi":"10.1111/dewb.70046","DOIUrl":"10.1111/dewb.70046","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Global health engagement increasingly occurs in the context of war and violent conflict. Many health-related decisions are made which should be guided by evidence. Health research is needed to provide evidence, yet conducting research in conflict settings raises multiple ethical issues. However, the ethical issues involved in conducting research during war and violent conflict have received insufficient attention. The literature suggests that these ethical issues, while similar to those of research conducted in humanitarian crises, are also distinct. This article provides a review of the ethical issues faced by researchers in conflict zones with a goal to inform future research into such issues. The review was organized around an established 8-principle ethics framework for research in low-income settings. We conclude with a number of recommendations and call for additional attention by bioethicists to this important area to protect participants and support researchers in conflict settings, whether coming from military or nonmilitary organizations.</p>","PeriodicalId":50590,"journal":{"name":"Developing World Bioethics","volume":"26 2","pages":"121-130"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/dewb.70046","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148018568","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Why a Military Global Health Ethics Special Issue of the Journal?","authors":"Udo Schuklenk","doi":"10.1111/dewb.70045","DOIUrl":"10.1111/dewb.70045","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Against the background of the current military situation in the middle east readers might wonder why we have decided to publish this special issue. The purpose of this Editorial is to shed light on our decision-making.</p><p>Substantively the justification for this topic is well made in Hunter Jackson Smith's Guest Editorial [<span>1</span>]. Many military missions have significant global health ethics implications, affecting in particular countries of the global south. However, there is more to this. Hunter Jackson Smith had put great effort into guest editing this special issue, albeit for a different journal. The American Medical Association's ethics journal, <i>AMA Journal of Ethics</i>, had agreed to publish the compilation of articles you see in this issue of <i>Developing World Bioethics</i>.</p><p><i>After</i> this agreement was made the American Medical Association decided that it wasn't worth its resources to support an Open Access, free-to-publish journal in medical ethics. The association shut down the journal without advance warning and without any planned transition process.</p><p>There has been some speculation among academics in the medical ethics fields that the decision to end the journal abruptly, with no consideration for already processed and accepted articles, is related to a desire by the association not to end up in the crosshairs of the current US government. I have no way of telling whether that is true. The journal certainly had no underlying business model and relied on permanent financial support from the American Medical Association.</p><p>When Hunter Jackson Smith approached us as a possible venue for the articles he had commissioned for the <i>AMA Journal of Ethics</i>, we agreed to do so. All articles in this issue of the journal have undergone standard external peer review processes, and we are delighted to present them to you.</p><p>The author declares no conflicts of interest.</p><p>Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.</p>","PeriodicalId":50590,"journal":{"name":"Developing World Bioethics","volume":"26 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/dewb.70045","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147989946","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Establishing Clinical Trial Priorities for Military Global Health Research","authors":"Liza Dawson, Hunter Jackson Smith, Fredrick Sawe","doi":"10.1111/dewb.70037","DOIUrl":"10.1111/dewb.70037","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Military leaders must support health care and research to protect the health and readiness of their forces. Part of this effort entails conducting human subjects research to address current and emerging international health threats. The military is also attentive to the national security interests associated with global health, such as protection from widespread disruption due to disasters and epidemics. While military leaders’ global health research objectives relate to the military's strategic goals, including force health protection and national security, it is only through longstanding partnerships with partner nations in several world regions that much of the relevant research is possible. Yet military priorities may differ starkly from those of the collaborating partner nations, raising concerns about the potential for exploitation in global health partnerships. However, in spite of differences in overall strategic priorities, a convergence of stakeholder interests allows for appropriate alignment in the choice of clinical research activities at global health sites supported by the military. These complex collaborative research arrangements depend on negotiating and navigating the selection of research goals and activities to ensure fairness and balancing of priorities among partners, thereby maintaining research infrastructure and capacity. Leaders of military institutions and partner nations must attend to the need for this sustained effort to balance priorities to ensure equity and successful maintenance of these essential relationships.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":50590,"journal":{"name":"Developing World Bioethics","volume":"26 2","pages":"87-91"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148018574","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How Should Ongoing Surgical Care Needs be Met During Global Health Engagements?","authors":"John S. Oh, Tamara J. Worlton, Carolyn Gosztyla","doi":"10.1111/dewb.70041","DOIUrl":"10.1111/dewb.70041","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Department of Defense has a long history of Global Health Engagement, beginning with identifying and developing vaccines for yellow fever, influenzae, and malaria. Contemporary examples of global health engagement include the worldwide deployment of military assets to aid in natural disasters, and deployment of ship and land based medical teams for short-term medical and surgical engagements. In 2017, the Department of Defense Instruction on Global Health Engagement was published to help guide these efforts. Surgery is an indispensable part of global health and presents unique ethical challenges.</p>","PeriodicalId":50590,"journal":{"name":"Developing World Bioethics","volume":"26 2","pages":"96-98"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/dewb.70041","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147989949","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ethics of Military Global Health Engagements","authors":"Hunter Jackson Smith","doi":"10.1111/dewb.70043","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/dewb.70043","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Military global health engagements have grown in scope and strategic relevance, yet their ethical dimensions remain insufficiently examined. Beyond humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, militaries now engage in infectious disease surveillance, clinical and laboratory research, outbreak response, health system strengthening, and medical training partnerships. These efforts draw on distinctive military capabilities (such as rapid deployment, logistical reach, and sustained international presence) while advancing force health protection, global health security, and health diplomacy. At the same time, the alignment of humanitarian activities with national security objectives raises ethical concerns related to neutrality, power asymmetries, informed consent, local autonomy, sustainability, and the potential militarization of health. This editorial introduces this thematic issue of how militaries can engage ethically and equitably in global health, particularly amid rising geopolitical conflict and emerging infectious disease threats. It frames key normative questions for policymakers, practitioners, and scholars working at the intersection of global health and security.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":50590,"journal":{"name":"Developing World Bioethics","volume":"26 2","pages":"84-86"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148274916","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Health Diplomacy and Ethical Considerations for Deployed Military Clinicians Managing Tensions Between Local National Groups","authors":"Janet Kelly, Tom Falconer-Hall, John Whitaker","doi":"10.1111/dewb.70040","DOIUrl":"10.1111/dewb.70040","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Military clinicians in disaster relief must treat health diplomacy not just as an operational tool but as a potential ethical obligation that actively prevents the political misuse of healthcare in situations of acute ethical tension. In settings where host nation military actors may threaten vulnerable populations, clinicians assume dual role<b>s</b> as caregivers but also as ethical diplomats often acting as an advocacy for at risk groups. This paper argues that military clinicians must treat health diplomacy as an active ethical responsibility rather than solely a neutral operational function. It suggests it is essential to prevent the political exploitation of healthcare and protect vulnerable groups in unstable and challenging environments. The paper uses an adapted four-pillars framework to analyse challenges of impartiality, host-nation influence and ethnic bias. It examines how clinicians negotiate complex health-diplomacy environments, especially where vulnerable groups may face racially motivated harm.</p>","PeriodicalId":50590,"journal":{"name":"Developing World Bioethics","volume":"26 2","pages":"104-107"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/dewb.70040","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147984202","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Clinton K. Murray, Hunter Jackson Smith, Paula C. Lodi
{"title":"The Roles of Military Health Diplomacy and Health Security When Conducting Global Health Engagements That Primarily Promote National Security","authors":"Clinton K. Murray, Hunter Jackson Smith, Paula C. Lodi","doi":"10.1111/dewb.70044","DOIUrl":"10.1111/dewb.70044","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Global health engagement (GHE) has emerged as a central instrument of foreign and defense policy across multiple nations, reflecting the growing convergence of health and national security. This manuscript examines the ethical and strategic roles of military health diplomacy and health security in GHE activities primarily oriented toward advancing national security objectives. It argues that military GHE is ethically justified only when it promotes health security alongside, rather than subordinate to, national security interests. Drawing on contemporary examples, including U.S. military medical efforts, medical coordination in Ukraine, and Indo-Pacific health engagement activities, the paper highlights how military GHE strengthens partner capacity, enhances interoperability, and supports operational readiness. However, ethical challenges exist and must be addressed, including dual loyalty among military physicians, risks to medical neutrality, and perceptions of coercion or instrumentalization. The manuscript concludes that transparency, local partnership, and adherence to core ethical principles are essential to ensuring that military GHE remains both strategically effective and ethically legitimate.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":50590,"journal":{"name":"Developing World Bioethics","volume":"26 2","pages":"111-116"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148151343","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Clinical Partnering - When Should Host Nation Patients Not be Directed to Coalition Military Hospitals?","authors":"Martin Bricknell","doi":"10.1111/dewb.70042","DOIUrl":"10.1111/dewb.70042","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This case commentary explores whether and when it is justifiable NOT to direct injured or ill host nation patients to international coalition military hospitals that are better equipped than host nation hospitals to meet patients' health needs in order to ensure sufficient patients for success in clinical partnering. The case discusses Medical Rules of Eligibility as a policy to determine the destination of patients who present for medical care to international military medical services. It also discusses the ethical challenges for international military healthcare workers when working as clinical partners to support capability-building in host national medical facilities. This can be particularly difficult if it involves shared care of patients rather than didactic training. Finally, the case discusses the ethical dimensions of news reporting within medical facilities, especially if this is part of the military effort to share information about the military campaign. The case highlights ethical aspects of higher-level military policy that impact clinical care and the importance of considering if external review of such policies is needed to ensure alignment with legal and professional ethical obligations.</p>","PeriodicalId":50590,"journal":{"name":"Developing World Bioethics","volume":"26 2","pages":"117-120"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/dewb.70042","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147976855","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Using an Equivalent Protections Framework to Improve Oversight of International Human Subjects Research","authors":"Liza Dawson, Hunter Jackson Smith","doi":"10.1111/dewb.70036","DOIUrl":"10.1111/dewb.70036","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Current US military international research protocols involving human subjects are reviewed, approved, and overseen by both US and regulatory bodies. In some cases host nation research partners are disadvantaged due to slower processing times and redundant protocol reviews when competing for opportunities to conduct clinical trials. This article considers international legal and regulatory tensions between protecting host nations’ patient-subjects and supporting host nation researchers’ ability to conduct phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials in support of important military and global health objectives.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":50590,"journal":{"name":"Developing World Bioethics","volume":"26 2","pages":"99-103"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148018486","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ângela Alface, Graça Salomé, Khátia Munguambe, Troy D Moon, Esperança Sevene, Elizabeth Heitman
{"title":"Frontline Healthcare Professionals' Perceptions of the Duty to Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multi-Method Study in Mozambique.","authors":"Ângela Alface, Graça Salomé, Khátia Munguambe, Troy D Moon, Esperança Sevene, Elizabeth Heitman","doi":"10.1111/dewb.70048","DOIUrl":"10.1111/dewb.70048","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>COVID-19 intensified ethical tensions between clinicians' duty to care and self-protection amid PPE shortages. We explored frontline healthcare professionals' perspectives in Maputo, Mozambique. Semi-structured interviews with healthcare professionals at four hospitals (April-June 2022) were recorded in Portuguese, transcribed, and thematically analyzed. Fixed-response items were captured in REDCap and summarized descriptively. Fifty-three respondents described varied perspectives on duty. Nearly half affirmed unconditional obligations grounded in professional ethics. Many framed duty as contingent on available PPE and institutional support; 8% were unsure. Themes included irregular PPE distribution, unequal training, and reliance on informal information, shaping perceived risk, preparedness, and responsibility. Quantitative summaries echoed these patterns: only 58% reported receiving training, and as PPE re-supply declined many felt exposed. Sustaining duty to care in resource-constrained settings during an outbreak requires reliable PPE provision, equitable and timely training, and trustworthy communication systems to protect workers and strengthen health-system resilience. Sustaining duty to care in resource-constrained settings during an outbreak requires reliable PPE provision, equitable and timely training, and trustworthy communication systems to protect workers and strengthen health-system resilience.</p>","PeriodicalId":50590,"journal":{"name":"Developing World Bioethics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13396983/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148260340","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}