Recommendations from the EDCTP/ECRIN session on clinical trial infrastructure and capacity building in Africa

Together with the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership  (EDCTP), ECRIN hosted a session at the Africa-Europe Science and Innovation Summit on 17 June 2021.  This session brought together key global health actors to collectively discuss lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and the next steps towards the comprehensive mobilization of all stakeholders for building sustainable clinical research preparedness and response capacities. It led to the development of 11 recommendations for capacity building and the development of a clinical research infrastructure in Africa.

1. Galvanise existing models and networks through clear medium and long term commitments
2. Correct the existing lack of equity in access to health and innovation by investing (in an equitable manner) in capacity strengthening and infrastructure in limited resource settings
3. Support the creation of an ecosystem as opposed to a siloed approach
4. Support infrastructure at the national level with a view of developing Centres of Excellence with state of the art equipment and highly qualified professionals, that attract both industry and academic trials.
5. Support development of local expertise (scientific excellence and leardership) with strong international collaboration
6. Support research network building, coordination, and harmonisation efforts
7. Development cooperation funding must leverage domestic cofounding to enable sustainable research capacity.
8. Support innovative ways to raise ethics and regulatory oversight of clinical trials
9. Increase investments in cross-disease health demographic surveillance systems and further integration of health research into health care systems
10. Support more patient centred approaches
11. Capitalise on the digital revolution to extend the reach and impact of training and networks and closely monitor megatrends in digital technologies

Read the recommendations in full here

_{Article updated on 31 August 2021}