Ethics of medical research in developing countries: the role of international codes of conduct

The author discusses the importance of statisticians being aware of rules which have been drawn up to govern statistical practice, such as codes of conduct that have been developed to cover medical research. The author discusses how statisticians have valuables contribution to make to debates on ethics which concern scientific soundness, data and perceptions of risk. The author discusses the recent debate about the revision of the widely respected Declaration of Helsinki, to reflect issues arising from research in developing countries, particularly HIV research, and how this debate centers on questions of study design, data analysis and assessment of risk.