On the ethics of digestive health research in historically marginalised communities

The recent publication in Gut of work titled ‘Epidemiology of inflammatory bowel disease in men with high-risk homosexual activity’ by Mansoor et al1 detailing the risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in men who have sex with men (MSM) has caused us much concern. This episode represents a teaching opportunity to discuss the ethics of digestive health research in historically marginalised communities (HMCs). Due to historic and ongoing lack of political and economic power and low levels of representation of HMCs among decision-makers at academic institutions and funding agencies, research questions pertinent to HMCs, including sexual and gender minorities (SGM, also known as LGBTQIA+), have gone unanswered. HMCs frequently have been exploited by research communities.2 3 Even in recent years, troubling research on persons from HMCs continues to take place and is published,4 often as a result of a failure of...
Source: Gut - Category: Gastroenterology Authors: Tags: Gut PostScript Source Type: research