1. The funding of health (including medical) research is managed between the Departments of Higher Education, Science and Innovation and Health and their respective entities. To ensure public good policy goals are coherently promoted across the two systems, there is a high degree of collaboration between the two Departments and its entities. The Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) is working with the National Health Research Ethics Council of the National Department of Health, the South African Medical Research Council, as well as the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) to develop guidelines for health research data management. Public funded health research is informed by the priorities that are set by the National Health Research Committee of the National Department of Health in collaboration with the Department of Science and Innovation. Researchers at the public funded Higher Education Institutes should adhere to the set priorities. Should a company want to fund research in line with the national health research priorities, the research proposal needs to be approved by the respective Institutional or provincial health research ethics committee, to ensure fairness and access.
2. The building of the capacity with regards to the research ethics committees is the responsibility of the National Health Research Ethics Council (NHREC) of the National Department of Health. The NHREC is a statutory body established under the National Health Act No 61 of 2003. The Act mandates the Minister of Health to establish the Council and it sets out NHREC’s functions, which involves giving direction on ethical issues relating to health and to develop guidelines for the conduct of research involving humans. The following are the functions of the NHREC as outlined in the Act: