Clinical Trials Capacity Strengthening

A tiny fraction - between 1 and 3 percent - of all clinical trials are conducted in Africa. As a result, there are not enough medical products to prevent, diagnose, and treat infectious diseases unique to the continent - and too many noncommunicable-disease products for which safety and efficacy data in African populations is lacking.

The Gates Foundation is working with partners across the clinical trial ecosystem to ensure that there is sufficient high-quality clinical trial infrastructure in Africa - and enough alignment among stakeholders, including the private sector, to use this infrastructure to make steady progress on R&D priorities.

Our partnerships include (but are not limited to):

• Since 2009, the foundation has led and funded the Global Health Clinical Consortium, made up of Product Development Partnerships, to help identify shared priorities and act in a more coordinated way.
• The foundation has long supported the WHO Tropical Disease Research Clinical Research Leadership Fellowship, which connects early- to mid-career scientists in low- and middle-income countries to a network of host institutions, including both pharmaceutical and biotech companies and major research institutions, providing training to lead clinical trials in their home countries and creating opportunities for ongoing global health–private sector collaboration.
• Alongside EDCTP, the foundation is supporting the Clinical Trials Community, a first-of-its kind resource that provides a comprehensive view into both supply of and demand for clinical trial capacity. The CTC includes profiles of 3,000 research centers, overlaid with burden data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and information about contract research organizations and laboratories.
• To achieve the goal of 15-20 always-on centers of excellence across all five economic regions of Africa, the foundation has committed to bolstering specific clinical trial sites. This initiative is starting in Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, with plans to quickly expand to other countries.

These partnerships, which range widely across the clinical trial ecosystem, are all part of a holistic, long-term strategy to work in collaboration with African organizations to create a sustainable solution for the future of R&D on the continent.