ABOUT ZERCAP

The Zimbabwe Ethics and Regulatory Capacity project (ZERCaP) was designed to strengthen the ethics and regulatory functions of the Medical Research Council of Zimbabwe (MRCZ) and its partners. It seeks to strengthen ethical oversight capacity by ensuring that there is harmony in the policies and laws for health research and development; updating and standardizing tools for proposal development, ethical review, monitoring and oversight. Leading to the development of the proposal, many challenges had led to a decline in the capacity of the national regulatory body, and staff attrition had dwindled to unacceptably high levels. The root causes were Zimbabwe’s economic environment which led to declines in funding for health, and socio-political turmoil which led to staff leaving to other countries. months just before the start of the ZERCaP project).  There was, therefore, an urgent need to standardize and better coordinate clinical trials and health research oversight.

The goal of ZERCaP is to strengthen the capacity of MRCZ and RECs to adequately provide ethical and regulatory oversight of clinical trials and health research in Zimbabwe.

OBJECTIVES

1. Improve the quality of ethical and regulatory oversight of clinical trials and health research and development in Zimbabwe.

2. Strengthen the capacity of MRCZ and RECs to implement their mandates adequately.

3. To improve access to information on clinical trials and health research and development in Zimbabwe

WORK PACKAGES​

Six packages have been designed to ensure that each objective is met.

1. Work Package 1: Establishment or Strengthening of RECs

2. Work Package 2: Development of tools for an enabling legal and policy framework​

3. Work Package 3: Strengthening oversight function​

4. Work Package 4: Training of RECs

5. Work Package 5: Project Management

6. Work Package 6: Electronic review system

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