An examination on Human immunodeficiency Virus/AIDS (HIV/AIDS) clinical trial movement on the African Continent

Abstract

The human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) pandemic is a 
major public health problem which poses a significant threat to livelihoods and social security in 
resource-poor countries due to the rapid spread of the infection amongst individuals at the prime of 
their productive age. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region most affected by HIV/AIDS with an estimated 24.7 
million people living with HIV in 2014, and accounts for almost 70% of new infections globally. It is 
necessary for researchers, health workers, policy-makers and consumers to have information on 
planned and ongoing clinical trials. This will enable them to effectively assess interventions for the 
prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS and its related conditions, as well planning appropriate future 
research. The aim of this study was to describe the current status of ongoing HIV clinical trials on the 
Pan African Clinical Trials Registry (PACTR) to inform African stakeholders of gaps in research, and 
potential areas of duplication. A cross-sectional analysis of trials currently registered on PACTR was 
conducted and excluded all trials that did not research HIV/AIDS interventions. Currently, there are 66 
trials investigating HIV interventions registered with 28 looking at treatment. Co-morbid conditions are 
investigated in 20 trials. Forty-one of the trials are single-centered and being conducted across 14 
countries. The remaining 52 trials are multicentered with sites in 14 African countries. At present, there 
is a growing number of planned or ongoing HIV/AIDS trials currently registered on www.pactr.org. This 
is encouraging as previous studies of published trials noted that not many were conducted in Africa. 
There has also been an increase in the number of African principal investigators, an indicator of 
regional capacity to conduct research.