Editorial by Ghanaian Times: Fix clinical trials challenges in Africa!

May 20 every year marks International Clinical Trials Day, which commemorates the day Scottish medical scientist James Lind began the first randomised clinical trial in 1747.

Therefore, yesterday was International Clinical Trials Day.

History has it that while aboard the HMS Salisbury, a 50-gun fourth-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy of Great Britain, Dr. Lind conducted what is considered the first clinical trial by administering different dietary supplements prepared from oranges and lemons to sailors suffering from scurvy.

His findings, highlighting the effectiveness of citrus fruits in preventing scurvy, laid the foundation for modern clinical research.

Clinical trials are research studies that test a medical, surgical, or behavioural intervention in people and are the primary way by which researchers determine if a new form of treatment or prevention, such as a new drug, diet, or medical device, is safe and effective.

Often, a clinical trial is designed to learn if a new treatment is more effective or has fewer harmful side effects than existing treatments.

Other objectives include finding approaches to preventing a health problem by testing people who are healthy but at increased risk of developing a disease.

This shows how important such research is.

James Lind deserves every honour for his ground-breaking pioneering work, which has undergone unimaginable evolution to enhance healthcare.

In a world now bedeviled with countless diseases, some of which defy treatment, clinical trials cannot be ignored in healthcare.

Fortunately, today, clinical trials are highly structured and rigorously regulated to ensure the safety and efficacy of new treatments.

Besides, it is on record that advances in technology, ethical standards, and global collaboration have significantly enhanced the capacity to conduct clinical research, bringing innovative therapies to patients worldwide.

Unfortunately, however, the records show that despite these advancements, conducting clinical trials in Africa poses some particular challenges.

Africa’s population is said to be equivalent to 17.8 percent of the total world population of 7.951 billion as of 2022 and bears 25 percent of the global burden of disease, yet only about four percent of global clinical trials are conducted on the African continent.

And the sad aspect of it all is that the four percent trials are unevenly distributed and concentrated in only a few countries.

The sadder part is that, as a result, most medicines are developed through clinical trials conducted outside Africa without considering the implications of their use with African patients or within African health systems.

Key obstacles accounting for this state of affairs are said to include limited funding, inadequate infrastructure, and regulatory complexities.

Why does Africa lag behind everything that happens on the globe, however good it is?

Do African leaders care about the wellbeing and welfare of their people?

If African leaders want to toy with things in their countries, those things must not include the health of the people.

Is it not dangerous to allow African countries to use medicines developed from clinical trials done outside the African continent?

It is about time African governments fixed the problems by seriously partnering with the Science for Africa (SFA) Foundation, which seeks to increase investments in clinical research, enhance regulatory frameworks, and foster collaboration between stakeholders.

What is more, the SFA Foundation’s Clinical Research and Trials Community (CRTC) programme is committed to transforming the clinical trials landscape in Africa through several strategic initiatives, including increasing investments in ethical clinical trials and creating a sustainable clinical trials ecosystem in Africa.