Purpose of review The purpose of this review is to present and analyse recent literature on the patterns, trends, and developments of ethical considerations concerning xenotransplantation by appraising normative aspects within a coherent framework. Recent findings Developments within xenotransplantation may soon allow for pig-to-human xenotransplantation to take place. Ethical analysis of xenotransplantation commonly follows an anthropocentric cost–benefit analysis, which may imprecisely measure costs. Xenotransplantation should not merely be approached from an anthropocentric perspective. Rather, the potential risks presented to human and nonhuman donors, recipients, and third parties should all be thoroughly considered. Summary The range of feasible alternatives to xenotransplantation to increase organ supply should be examined before resorting to xenotransplantation because of the moral distinction between imposing certain risks on others before, or after, alternative solutions have been exhausted.

COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, has wreaked havoc on global economies and healthcare systems around the world. The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic in March 2020. [1] Waves of new infection and new, more transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variants have led to protracted lockdown regulations in many countries. [2][3][4] While lockdown has been an effective method of 'flattening the curve' , it is not a socially or economically sustainable solution for the long term. The ability of healthcare systems to predict and plan for surges in infection has become crucial.The South African (SA) healthcare system is plagued by a geographical maldistribution of resources. There are 125 390 general hospital beds currently available for SA's population of 60 million. [5] Considering the country's overall high burden of disease, identification of potential risk factors or markers that predict length of hospital stay (LoS) in COVID-19 patients may be of great benefit to health authorities and may assist in triage and contingency planning.Abnormal laboratory parameters identified at admission have been reported to predict in-hospital severity of disease and mortality. [6] Lymphopenia, anaemia, thrombocytopenia, neutrophilia and eleva-This open-access article is distributed under Creative Commons licence CC-BY-NC 4.0.

Interest in animal-to-human transplantation has significantly increased owing to the limits placed on successful human-to-human organ transplantation by chronic scarcities of donated human organs, and transplant rejection. Extracting and transplanting organs from pigs is a promising solution to the current, increasing, global crisis of human organ scarcity, and would provide a vast supply of organs, which could be obtained quickly and selectively. Although potential harms of pig-to-human xenotransplantation exist, such as cross-species infection, transplant rejection, psychological harm, risks of wear and tear and threats to altruism, these harms may be mitigated through appropriate strategies. We address the objection that xenotransplantation is unnatural. We respond that the sense in which xenotransplantation is unnatural is unclear, and moreover, does not demonstrate that it is wrong. Overall, we claim that the benefits of pig-to-human xenotransplantation are likely to outweigh the harms, if appropriate steps are taken. Genetically modified pigs offer hope for a vast supply of organs for transplant in patients, along with a potentially avoidable risk of transplant rejection and disease transmission.S Afr J Bioethics Law 2019;12(2):66-70. https://doi.

No abstract

Interest in the governance of big data is growing exponentially. However, finding the right balance between making large volumes of data accessible, and safeguarding privacy, preventing data misuse, determining authorship and protecting intellectual property remain challenging. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), research ethics committees (RECs) play an important role in reviewing data-intense research protocols. However, this regulatory role must be embedded in a context of robust governance. There is currently a paucity of published literature on how big data are regulated in SSA and if the capacity to review protocols is sufficient. The aim of this study was to provide a broad overview of REC members’ awareness and perceptions of big data governance in SSA. A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted from April to July 2022. We invited 300 REC members to participate in our online survey via Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap). A total of 140 REC members, representing 34 SSA countries, completed the online survey. Awareness of data governance laws, policies and guidelines was variable across the subcontinent. A quarter of respondents (25%) indicated that national regulations on the transborder flow of research data are inadequate. Institutional policies on research data protection were also regarded as being inadequate. Most respondents (64%) believed that they lacked experience in reviewing data-intense protocols. Data governance and regulation in SSA need to be strengthened at both national and institutional levels. There is a strong need for capacity development in the review of data-intense research protocols on the subcontinent.