Poverty-related diseases and neglected tropical diseases continue to cause major health problems with enormous social consequences. New strategies and research approaches to fight these diseases are urgently required. Clinical trials to research and develop novel drugs and vaccines are an essential part of this endeavor. These studies, however, also raise ethical issues, for example, with regard to financial compensation for trial participation and the potential risk of acquiring natural infections during trials in developing countries. On October 24, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) and the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology (MPI-IB), with support from the Ernst Schering Foundation, organize a Science & Society Session at the MPI-IB in Berlin to discuss these ethical issues with German and African representatives from science, politics and society.

The participating speakers are:
• Günter Nooke, Personal Representative of the German Chancellor for Africa in the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) as well as BMZ’s Commissioner for Africa
• Debrework Zewdie, Distinguished Scholar at City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, USA, and former Director of The World Bank’s Global AIDS Program
• Quarraisha Abdool Karim, Infectious Diseases Epidemiologist, Columbia University, USA, and University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa;
• David M. Serwadda, Infectious Diseases Epidemiologist, Makerere University, Uganda

The Science & Society Session “Ethical Dimensions in Clinical Trials” is part of the symposium “New Research Perspectives on Infectious Diseases in Africa and Germany”, which takes place from 24-25 October 2016 at the MPI-IB as well. The Science & Society Session and the symposium are coordinated by Professor Stefan Kaufmann, MPI-IB, on the side of the Leopoldina, and Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and Columbia University, USA, from ASSAf’s side. Both events are open to the public. Further information regarding the program and registration will be available on the Leopoldina’s website (www.leopoldina.org) soon.

The event is open to the public and will be held in English.