A community is a group of people understood as having a certain identity due to the sharing of common interests or to a shared proximity. A community may be identified as a group of people living in the same village, town, or country and, thus, sharing geographical proximity. A community may be otherwise identified as a group of people sharing a common set of values, a common set of interests, or a common disease.
WHO, Operational Guidelines for Ethics Committees That Review Biomedical Research, Geneva 2000, TDR/PRD/ETHICS/ 2000, p. 21