Strengthening research ethics governance and regulatory oversight in Central America and the Dominican Republic in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study

Table 3 Ethics review preparedness and responses, by country, GoEtiCA study, 2021

	Costa Rica	El Salvador	Guatemala	Honduras	Panama	Dominican Republic
1. Health research priorities identified for COVID-19	No	No	No	No	No	No
2. Ethics review process adopted-adapted for COVID-19^a	Yes, the guideline “Recommendations for carrying out biomedical research during the health emergency for COVID-19 in Costa Rica”, includes ethical review guidelines	Yes, National Commission on Research Ethics minutes, establishing recommendations in dialogues on research ethics during pandemics	Yes, Evaluation criteria for outbreak or health emergency-related research	No	Yes, Resolution No. 373 of April 2020, accelerated procedure for a PHE. Resolution 512, 19/06	Yes, Communication, CONABIOS in times of COVID-19
3. Number of COVID-19 studies registered in ClinicalTrials.gov by 08/2021	4	15	2	2	3	4
4. Number of studies on COVID-19 approved by the NREC by 08/2021	21	14	19	NA	89	13
5. Registry of protocols approved	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes

NA not applicable, does not have a NREC; NREC national research ethics commission
^aDocument(s) indicating the adaptation or modification of the ethics review process to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic

ISSN: 1478-4505