Why Africa?

Eccentrically, fewer clinical trials are undertaken on the African continent, in part due to lack of research funding from poor African countries, while the pharmaceutical industries that sponsor clinical trials from the Global North are skeptical of the abilities and quality of those in the Global South to undertake organized quality clinical trials. Africa’s participation in clinical trials will help resolve numerous disease challenges it is facing. In this regard, applicable research and clinical trials should be undertaken in relevant populations to extrapolate at population level which has genetic diversity. Admittedly, Africa lacks organized research ethics committees that have adequate and appropriate training responsible for reasonable review and monitoring of a clinical trial. Further, inclusion of several regulatory authorities and multiple approval points delay clinical trials timelines form study startups. This will need to be harmonized. To mitigate this, medical leadership in African nations have taken ownership of their medical ethics agendas to facilitate decent international clinical trial participation for the good of the continent. Africa also does not have expertise of other required skills. It also lacks significant infrastructure such as laboratories and resources for clinical research to conduct clinical trials effectively. This gap can be addressed with more investment in clinical research capacity building. Despite these gaps, there lays several opportunities that can be harnessed for clinical trials in Africa. To start with, Africa has a younger population which is a plus for leveraging Human Infection Challenge (HIC) clinical trials. The other opportunities for clinical trial in Africa is the high disease burden i.e. both communicable and non-communicable diseases. Africa is a nest for unique diseases, with a high prevalences such as malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, Neglected Tropical Diseases, Ebola, Cholera, and other enteric diseases. There is also a growing burden of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Therefore, Clinical trials would help develop new interventions and therapies that can address these diseases. Another opportunity for clinical research in Africa is the diversity of the population. Africa has over 2,000 ethnic groups, and the genetic diversity is an asset in identifying and developing new therapies. Moreover, this diversity can be useful in conducting clinical trials that involve populations that are underrepresented in clinical research. Inconclusion, although there is low representation of African countries in clinical trials, poor visibility of existing sites, limited infrastructure and unpredictable clinical trial regulatory timelines are some of the key issues hindering investments in this area. Africa’s practical absence from the clinical trials map is a big problem. The continent displays an incredible amount of genetic diversity with numerous ethic groupings. If this diversity is not well represented in clinical trials, the trial findings cannot be generalized to large populations.