key: cord-0778116-rzsiuhtw
authors: Laurie, Graeme T.
title: Enacting Bioethics
date: 2020-07-29
journal: Asian Bioeth Rev
DOI: 10.1007/s41649-020-00141-3
sha: e884c42d0c6b1bfca4be0581111271d15e2e3d1b
doc_id: 778116
cord_uid: rzsiuhtw

nan

or the patenting of living material. We encourage future contributions of this kind to explore such possibilities.

The Perspectives section of this issue is unapologetically dominated by contributions addressing the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. The editorial team is very encouraged by the strong response to our call for papers on ethical responses to COVID-19, and an important strand of analysis is emerging from the contributions: this concerns assessments of various countries' (in)action in the face of the crisis. Moving forward, we will seek to capture and publish as broad a range of country perspectives as possible.

In this issue, our COVID-19 perspectives begin with an account and analysis of the Italian professional response to scarce resources, provided by Craxì et al. (2020) . At the time this article was written, Italy was at the European epicentre of the pandemic, and while matters have moved on considerably since then, the authors aspire to offer insights into resource allocation from which other countries might learn. In a similar vein, de Castro-Hamoy and de Castro (2020) alert us to the ever-present threat of ageism in scarce resource allocation, and they bring helpful analysis of the ethical concerns to the current COVID-19 context.

Turning to country responses, our final two COVID-19 papers offer examples of tentative success and on-going challenges in managing the outbreak. Thus, reflecting the apparent success story of Vietnam which-to date-has no reported deaths from COVID-19, Ivic (2020) offers possible explanations about the Vietnamese response, justifying these by reference to a broad societal ethical commitment to an ethic of care, emphasising collective responsibility and community solidarity. In contrast, Yusof et al. (2020) alert us to the dangers and vagaries of using social media to spread information about the virus within the wider society. Using the example of Malaysia, the authors highlight two ways in which irresponsible uses of social media can give rise to a host of ethical concerns, namely, using these media to share personal information about likely COVID-19-infected persons and the ever-present-and sadly increasing-phenomenon of fake news. To address this, the authors offer an ethically grounded strategy both for Malaysia and for other countries facing similar concerns.

In many ways, the final perspective paper in the September issue reflects many elements of the papers above. In their examination of the role of HealthServe-a non-profit organisation in Singapore that defends and promotes the rights of migrant workers- Rajaraman et al. (2020) offer inside insights into the workings of this organisation as actors themselves seeking to promote a public good for structurally disadvantaged groups. Despite legal entitlement to access to the Universal Health Coverage system in Singapore, the authors demonstrate well how epistemic and structural factors lead to significant problems of access and serious concerns about equity, justice and a lack of solidarity. Arguably, it was precisely these kinds of ethical failures that led to Singapore's COVID-19 spike in April 2020 (Koh 2020) .

The COVID-19 pandemic must not obscure or eclipse longer-standing matters of bioethical concern or global ethical crisis. The Asian Bioethics Review welcomes all contributions on these issues, and no contribution of quality has been, nor will be, excluded from this journal for the sake of wider discussion of COVID-19. By the same token, to the extent that this journal can continue to capture and publicise commentary on the ethical responses of countries to this pandemic, we will strive to do so. The editorial team believes that the journal provides a valuable resource in this regard, for now, for the future and for the annals of public health history.

Rationing in a pandemic: lessons from Italy

Age matters but it should not be used to discriminate against the elderly in allocating scarce resources in the context of COVID-19

Post-mortem reproduction from the Vietnamese perspective-an analysis and comments

Framing ethical concerns and attitudes towards human gene patents in the Chinese press

Vietnam's response to the Covid-19 outbreak

Migrant workers and COVID-19

Exclusion of migrant workers from national UHC systems-perspectives from HealthServe, a non-profit organisation in Singapore

When do physicians and nurses start communication about advance care planning? A qualitative study at an acute care hospital in Japan

Sharing information on COVID-19: the ethical challenges in the Malaysian setting

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