Samson Muchina Kinyanjui and colleagues from the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya discuss in this week's PLoS Medicine how they modified the programme's informed consent processes by taking into account local social, cultural, and economic contexts in the design and administration of consent forms. They stress that institutional wide support is important in ensuring consistency in the consenting process for all studies within a given institution.
The authors conclude: "Experiences in Kilifi suggest that locally adapted communication processes that combine the development of contextualised [informed consent forms] templates and ongoing supportive processes for their use are a valuable investment of resources through their potential to strengthen informed consent, particularly in international research."
Funding: This work was funded by the Wellcome Trust, UK. The funder had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Citation: Boga M, Davies A, Kamuya D, Kinyanjui SM, Kivaya E, et al. (2011) Strengthening the Informed Consent Process in International Health Research through Community Engagement: The KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme Experience. PLoS Med 8(9): e1001089. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001089
CONTACT:
Samson Muchina Kinyanjui
Head of Training
KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Programme
Hospital Road
P.O. Box 230
Kilifi, Coast 80108
Kenya
+254 417522063
skmuchina@gmail.com
skmuchina@kilifi.kemri-wellcome.org
Journal
PLoS Medicine