Abstract:
The Africa Ethics Working Group (AEWG) is a South-South-North
collaboration of bioethics and mental health researchers from sub-
Saharan Africa, working to tackle emerging ethical challenges in
global mental health research. Initially formed to provide ethical
guidance for a neuro-psychiatric genomics research project, AEWG
has evolved to address cross cutting ethical issues in mental health
research aimed at addressing equity in North-South collaborations.
Global South refers to economically developing countries (sub-
Saharan Africa in this context) and Global North to economically
developed countries (primarily Europe, UK and North America). In this
letter we discuss lessons that as a group we have learnt over the last
three years; lessons that similar collaborations could draw on. With
increasing expertise from Global South as an outcome of several
capacity strengthening initiatives, it is expected that the nature of
scientific collaborations will shift to a truly equitable partnership
