The practicality and sustainability of a community advisory board at a large medical research unit on the Thai-Myanmar border.
Open accessAbstract
Community engagement is increasingly promoted to strengthen the ethics of medical research in low-income countries. One strategy is to use community advisory boards (CABs): semi-independent groups that can potentially safeguard the rights of study participants and help improve research. However, there is little published on the experience of operating and sustaining CABs. The Shoklo Malaria Research Unit (SMRU) has been conducting research and providing healthcare in a population of refugees, migrant workers, and displaced people on the Thai-Myanmar border for over 25 years. In 2009 SMRU facilitated the establishment of the Tak Province Community Ethics Advisory Board (T-CAB) in an effort to formally engage with the local communities to both to obtain advice and to establish a participatory framework within which studies and the provision of health care take place. In this paper, we draw on our experience of community engagement in this unique setting, and our interactions with the past and present CAB members to critically reflect upon the CAB's goals, structure and operations with a focus on the practicalities, what worked, what did not, and its future directions.
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In 2008, increased community engagement resulted from the Tak Province Community Advisory Board in Thailand, which comprised community members, advised design, process and outcomes of interest, and subsequently approved or disapproved all studies conducted at SMRU.
“In 2008, increased community engagement resulted from the Tak Province Community Advisory Board in Thailand. This group, comprised of community members were asked to advise design, process and outcomes of interest, and subsequently approved (or disapproved) all studies conducted at SMRU. 26 , 27”
From Cohort Profile: the SMRU Refugee and Migrant Pregnancy Study in Western Thailand and Eastern Myanmar (2026) · cites this paper as [27]
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Cohort Profile: the SMRU Refugee and Migrant Pregnancy Study in Western Thailand and Eastern Myanmar
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“The T-CAB group is composed of community leaders who were consulted on the study design, process, and outcomes of interest [10].”
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- Authors
- Lwin, K. M., Peto, T. J., White, N. J., Day, N. P. J., Nosten, F., Parker, M., & Cheah, P. Y.
- Affiliations
- Mahidol University (TH)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Venue
- Health
- Publisher
- Scientific Research Publishing, Inc.
- Published
- 2013
- Volume
- 05
- Issue
- 02
- Pages
- 229-236
- ISSN
- 1949-4998 (ISSN-L)
- 1949-5005
- PMC
- PMC7614254
- OpenAlex
- W1986813872
- Semantic Scholar
- 3f10eeb70bc69121ac123ac30476f0adf57c6dfb
- Cited by
- 10
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 0.34
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Locations
- Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Li Ka Shing Foundation
- Wellcome Trust (096527/Z/11/Z, 096527)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Ethics in Clinical Research
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Community Health and Development
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Ethics and bioethics in healthcare
- Keywords
- community advisory board, community participation, research ethics, research ethics committees, Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, Thai-Myanmar border, refugees, migrant workers, displaced persons, participatory research, research participant rights
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