High quality ethics review capacity is a key component of health research. The European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership, funded through the 6th Framework Program, aims to accelerate the development of interventions into clinical trials tailored to the needs of African countries. Appropriate capacity for ethics review is essential to ensure the feasibility of this European initiative. Consequently, there is a pressing need to establish where ethics review capacity is available, with a vi ew to developing or strengthening it where it is lacking. Very few studies have been undertaken to identify these needs, especially in Western and Central Africa. It is therefore vital to survey existing capacity and clarify needs, before proposing trainin g programmes for African biomedical researchers/ethics committee members. In addition, a north-south and south-south network of ethics committees reviewing trials would strengthen and promote the creation and the working of these structures in host countri es. Four African institutions together with two public European organizations and the World Health Organization have come together to build a network of medical research ethics committees in Africa: Networking for Ethics on Biomedical Research in Africa (N EBRA). As a first step, trained African students under the guidance of both African and European supervisors will identify existing ethics review capacity and needs in 15 African countries. To achieve this, NEBRA's Steering Committee will be assisted durin g the key steps by the outstanding expertise present among an Advisory Committee, which includes representative of existing African Networks. At the end of the project, a group of Observers from international public and private institutions interested in e thical aspects of biomedical research in developing countries will help NEBRA in building a sustainable network of ethics committees in Africa which would fit with the stra'