Children and young people should routinely be offered the opportunity to participate in and to benefit from medical research.
Children and young people should routinely be offered the opportunity to participate in and to benefit from medical research, according to updated guidance from the UK Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health.
The guidelines provide updated practical information on ethical issues in relation to research involving children, aimed at research councils. It reflects many of the changes that have taken place with regards to EU regulations over the last 14 years. The key principles include:
“Children require protection, but this should not preclude the claim of other rights, including the right to the highest standard of healthcare, to be informed, express their views, and influence decisions made about them,” said lead author Neena Modi, MD, Professor of Neonatal Medicine at Imperial College London. “The more robust research we can conduct, the greater the likelihood of developing new treatments and procedures that will greatly improve healthcare for children and young people.”
The guidelines also emphasize the importance of involving children, young people and parents in all aspects of medical research—from prioritization to development and dissemination. Overall, they reflect current regulations and should help researchers make the right decisions about child health research in the best interest of the child, she added.
The guidance was published in an online article posted on June 9 by
Archives of Disease in Childhood
. To access the full article,
click here
.
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