In the given scenario, a Western research team is asking data in detail at individual level for each disease case.
1. Should you give the data out?
No, I should not give out detailed personal data directly. It would break data privacy and confidentiality rules.
2. How do you not violate any of the General Principles of Informatics Ethics?
I must protect people’s privacy, get proper permission, and share data only in an ethical and legal way. I should make sure the data cannot identify any individual person.
3. If you want to provide the data to them, what and how will you do it?
I will first ask approval from the Ministry of Health or relevant authority. Then, I will share only anonymized or aggregated data (without names, addresses, phone numbers, or exact locations). I will also sign a data-sharing agreement that limits how the researchers can use the data.
