National Ethics Advisory Committee
Kāhui Matatika o te Motu
NEAC hosted the second Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting for National Bioethics/Ethics Committees (AP-NEC-2) in October 2019 in collaboration with the World Health Organization and with the support of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.
The Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting for National Bioethics/Ethics Committees is held once every two years, and brings together national ethics committees, as well as ethics/bioethics focal points in governments, from around the world to share their thoughts and experiences in relation to bioethical issues.
The meeting was held at New Zealand's national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa, and ran from 21 to 23 October with the theme of Reducing Inequities through Solutions-Oriented Bioethics with an aim theme in the planning to ensure the meeting was as sustainable as possible.
The Republic of Korea held the inaugural AP-NEC meeting in 2017. For the Wellington meeting, NEAC chose to develop previous discussions, and respond to the Global Summit’s ‘Call for Action’ through a focus on equity in health and what solutions bioethics can offer to inequity. The concept of equity in health is an ethical principle, closely related to human rights; in particular, the right of all humans to experience good health. Bioethics has a role to play in addressing inequity both nationally and internationally. Solutions-orientated bioethics draws on the practical and sometimes pragmatic aspects of bioethics, where real world situations are ethically analysed using the bioethics framework. Achieving equity in health involves ethical deliberation across public health, global health, research, and clinical ethics.
The Regional Meeting took place between meetings of the Global Summit of Bioethics Committees. The Global Summit is a biennial forum at which national bioethics representatives can share information and experiences on ethical issues in health and public health. It is a platform for discussion and formulates consensus on a wide range of prominent ethical topics.
