Demographic trends define Africa as the world’s fastest-growing region, with its population potentially doubling by 2050 . As the continent achieves significant progress in the control of infectious diseases, the rise of non-communicable conditions, in parallel with the possibility of emerging pandemic pathogens, is adding more pressure to already strained healthcare systems and posing challenges to continental development ambitions. According to IQVIA, out of the 20,825 trials that started globally in 2023, only 819 – or 4% of the total – were hosted by African countries, which resulted in the continent providing less than 2% of genetic data analyzed in genomics research .
Most of these trials were not only focused on infectious diseases but also restricted to phases III and IV (or phases focused on comparisons to current treatment standards and long-term effects), remaining consistent with clinical research trends over the last 15 years. Figure 1 (below) illustrates these dynamics and the scenarios that Africa’s ambition could aspire to. What if 10% of global clinical trials included African patients? Is this a possibility based on industry growth prospects, especially from the emerging biopharma sector, and what would the benefits be to patients, healthcare systems, and economies? While issues of genomic representation and pandemic preparedness are certainly critical for discoveries, why should we continue insisting on the need to increase investment in African cli.