Editorial on Policy Ethics. Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (1)

Public health system always requires an advanced level of awareness and a comprehensive policy. However, as is often the case, expectations and actualities do not match. In order to understand the situation, planning and other related initiatives, and to assess the adequacy in terms of the expectations borne out of experiences, the papers in this volume detailed the issues and the need of ethics in formulating the policies and contributing in the vision of the development of the country. In order to have a comprehensive ethical policy and planning, a concern for the initiatives and development deep down in the policy formation is required. Despite the fact that there is need of ethics in such formulation, the need is yet to be acknowledged in the relevant policy documents. The five papers in the volume emphasise such need. The first paper entitled Why Is Family-Oriented Organ Transplantation Policy and Practice Necessary for Bangladesh? by M.S. Siraj address that the in terms of the donation of organs for transplantation in the West, the notion of individual rights and freedom is compatible with secular culture and biomedical perspectives, but such biomedical policy and practise is comprised with the Muslim culture, socio-economic reality and biomedical perspective of Bangladesh. It highlights the need and importance of family-oriented biomedical policy and practice in Bangladesh. The second paper Policing Ethics: Context Bangladesh, authored by M.S. Adil, focuses on the need of ethics for policing actions in Bangladesh. Grounding on the fact of the ongoing discussion about the ethical principles and the code of conduct of police practitioners in the country, the paper discusses police misconduct due to the lack of principles and also highlights the mindset of the public towards the police. The third paper on Child Marriage in Bangladesh: Policy and Ethics, written by Arnab, A. T. Arnab & M.S. Siraj examines the way the religious cultural and socio-economic realities influence child marriage practice in Bangladesh. Bringing the experiences from the ground, the paper reveals that Bangladeshis does not support marriage at early ages but socio-economic reality often pushes poor into getting their children married at early ages. Therefore, the paper comes up with the suggestion that the country should strengthen its policy on child marriage. The fourth paper on Justice for Children in Bangladesh: Legal and Ethical Issues, authored by N Ferdousi, highlights the backdrop of the justice system for children in Bangladesh. Highlighting the Children Act 2013, the paper makes it noticeable that justice for children requires an ethical code of conduct along with the legal responsibility to protect child rights and the childhood in the country. The fifth paper on Ethics in Social Research and Its Impact on Policy Implication, Planning and Development, co-authored by P.C. Sarker & U.K. Das discusses the importance of data driven research for evidence-based policy formulation. And for the appropriate data driven research, the paper highlights that trustworthy research studies should be guided by the ethical intentions and actions. Recognizing the importance of ethics in different aspects of research and policy, the issue of the Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics invited me to edit the issue on Policy Ethics. I am grateful to Professor Shamima Parvin Lasker for giving me the opportunity to serve as the guest editor of the issue. And I hope readers will enjoy in going through the diverse and insightful papers of the issue.

Thank you, Rhyddhi Chakraborty FHEA