Global health experts met in Vatican City on June 1 and 2 to rewrite international ethics rules for biobanks, pushing to include marginalised populations long left out of medical research.
The World Medical Association (WMA) convened the two day meeting alongside the Pontifical Academy for Life and the Israeli Medical Association. It formed the third round of consultations on revising the Declaration of Taipei, the global framework guiding the ethical use of health databases and biobanks.
Specialists in medicine, bioethics, law, and public health centred their talks on equity. They examined why vulnerable and marginalised groups remain underrepresented in research, how the benefits of that research should be shared fairly, and how governance can promote justice across borders.
The Declaration first appeared in 2002 and last changed in 2016. The WMA reopened it because artificial intelligence, genomics, and cross border data sharing have transformed how patient information moves through healthcare and research.
WMA President Dr. Jacqueline Kitulu opened the meeting and stressed that “scientific progress must go hand in hand” with ethical responsibility. She said meaningful inclusion and the fair sharing of outcomes must ensure every community benefits equally.
Pontifical Academy for Life President Msgr. Renzo Pegoraro said the growing role of digital technology in medicine raises ethical questions that demand global cooperation and a fairer approach to biomedical research.
The Vatican gathering followed earlier consultations in Taipei, Taiwan, in December 2025 and São Paulo, Brazil, in March 2026. The WMA has scheduled a fourth expert meeting in Oslo, Norway, for September
