Alternative Africa

Top Menu

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact Us

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business
  • Environment
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Reports
    • Africa-Observers
      • Read Reports
      • Submit a story
  • MORE
    • Health
    • News Now
    • World
    • Technology
Sign in / Join

Login

Welcome! Login in to your account
Lost your password?

Lost Password

Back to login
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact Us

logo

Alternative Africa

  • Home
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business
  • Environment
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Reports
    • Africa-Observers
      • Read Reports
      • Submit a story
  • MORE
    • Health
    • News Now
    • World
    • Technology
  • Joe Biden to prioritize legal status for millions of immigrants

  • EU impressed with Museveni victory despite allegations of fraud

  • Guinea president, Alpha Conde becomes first African leader to receive Covid-19 jab

  • Ghanaian Pastor murders daughter over allege witchcraft

  • UK bans deadly Chinese hand sanitiser containing toxic substance

AfricaFeatureHealthNews Now
Home›Africa›166 Covid-19 related clinical trials taking place in Africa

166 Covid-19 related clinical trials taking place in Africa

By alternativeafrica
September 21, 2020
413
0
Share:

London, Sep. 21, 2020 (AltAfrica)-Africa hosts the second largest covid-19 related clinical trials in the world after the United States.

Expert panel endorses protocol for COVID-19 herbal medicine clinical trials

Data from the website www.clinicaltrials.org shows that there are 166 Covid-19 trials taking place in Africa, as compared to 710 in the United States alone, and 107 in Canada. South America has 162, China 60 and India 181.

READ ALSO: BRITAIN ON THE BRINK OF SECOND NATIONWIDE LOCKDOWN AS COVID-19 CASES REACH TIPPING POINT

Out of the 1,056 Covid-19 drug trials going on globally, DNDI indicates that Africa is the site for 56 trials.

Uganda, Kenya and DRC are currently participating in trials for one drug each, as compared to Egypt with 36 trials, Nigeria 17, and South Africa with eight, Kenya 4 and Ghana 3 among others

A volunteer receives an injection from a medical worker during the country’s first human clinical trial for a potential vaccine against COVID-19 in Soweto, South Africa. Felix Dlangamandla/Beeld/Gallo Images via Getty Images

Currently, there are 1,138,663 confirmed #COVID19 cases on the African continent – with more than 1.1 million recoveries & 33,000 deaths cumulatively.

The World Health Organization on Saturday endorsed a protocol for testing African herbal medicines as potential treatments for the coronavirus and other epidemics.

COVID-19 has raised the issue of using traditional medicines to battle contemporary diseases, and the endorsement clearly encouraged testing with criteria similar to those used for molecules developed by labs in Asia, Europe or the Americas.

It came months after a bid by the president of Madagascar to promote a drink based on artemisia, a plant with proven efficacy in malaria treatment, was met with widespread scorn.

On Saturday, WHO experts and colleagues from two other organisations “endorsed a protocol for phase III clinical trials of herbal medicine for COVID-19 as well as a charter and terms of reference for the establishment of a data and safety monitoring board for herbal medicine clinical trials,” a statement said.

“Phase III clinical trials are pivotal in fully assessing the safety and efficacy of a new medical product,” it noted.

“If a traditional medicine product is found to be safe, efficacious and quality-assured, WHO will recommend (it) for a fast-tracked, large-scale local manufacturing,” Prosper Tumusiime, a regional WHO director, was quoted as saying.

WHO’s partners are the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and the African Union Commission for Social Affairs.

“The onset of COVID-19, like the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, has highlighted the need for strengthened health systems and accelerated research and development programmes, including on traditional medicines,” Tumusiime said.

He did not refer specifically to the Madagascar drink COVID-Organics, also called CVO, that President Andry Rajoelina has pitched as a cure for the virus, however.

It has has been widely distributed in Madagascar and sold to several other countries, mainly in Africa.

In May, WHO Africa Director Matshidiso Moeti told media that African governments had committed in 2000 to taking “traditional therapies” through the same clinical trials as other medication.

“I can understand the need, the drive to find something that can help,” Moeti said. “But we would very much like to encourage this scientific process in which the governments themselves made a commitment.”

Prof Kenneth Ngure, a lecturer at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), said Africa has scientific and moral reasons to participate in vaccine trials, so that when the vaccines are discovered the findings can also be generalisable to African populations.

Prof Ngure who was speaking at a recent virtual pre-conference hosted by the Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (Mesha), and attended by experts and science journalists from Africa added that populations that participate in trials are usually the ones that are prioritised to receive the vaccines once they become available. 

“We should avoid doublespeak. On the one hand, we do not want to participate in vaccine trials and on the other we are demanding to get the vaccines,” he said.

“Remember most of the vaccines and drugs that we use in Africa today had the trials conducted in the west, it is only recently that Africa is getting more requests to conduct these studies because it has built its human, regulatory and infrastructural capacity.”

On her part, Dr Borna Nyaoke-Anoke, manager, Clinical Trials at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative/Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (DNDI/GARDP) said Africa could benefit from lower prices by participating in the ongoing Covid-19 vaccine development efforts

Dr Nyaoke-Anoke said countries that opted out of vaccine trials will likely buy them at higher prices once they are developed.

“It does not make economic sense for pharmaceutical firms in the north that includes Europe and America, to test and develop a vaccine in their home countries at very high costs and then sell it here at a price similar to the one in their home countries. It is even harder to expect them to give discounted rates on the vaccines to African countries,” she said.

SHARE ON:
TagsAfricaClinical TrialsCovid-19 Related
Previous Article

Despite unrest, Libya to install 1,000 solar-powered ...

Next Article

Mandatory Testing: Ghana detects 26 covid-19 positive ...

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

alternativeafrica

Related articles More from author

  • News Now

    Zimbabwe court acquits Mugabe critic Evan Mawarire

    November 29, 2017
    By alternativeafrica
  • AfricaHealthNews Now

    WHO approves guidelines for clinical trials of COVID-19 herbal medicine in Africa

    September 20, 2020
    By alternativeafrica
  • News Now

    Mogadishu bombings: Top Somali officials fired over deadly blasts

    October 29, 2017
    By alternativeafrica
  • News Now

    Obesity Was Rising as Ghana Embraced Fast Food. Then Came KFC.

    October 2, 2017
    By alternativeafrica
  • BusinessNews Now

    Ghana becomes sovereign shareholder in Africa Finance Corporation

    March 3, 2018
    By alternativeafrica
  • News Now

    Five Fingers for Marseilles hits Toronto International Film Festival

    September 15, 2017
    By alternativeafrica

Leave a reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

You might be interested

  • BusinessNews Now

    IMF urges Kenya to go slow on debt binge and stabilise economy

  • AfricaBusinessNews Now

    Nigeria, Ghana hold crunch meeting over border closure

  • AfricaBusinessNews Now

    Nigeria: Wike receives Turkish Airlines Maiden Flight To Port Harcourt Int. Airport

Timeline

  • January 17, 2021

    Joe Biden to prioritize legal status for millions of immigrants

  • January 17, 2021

    EU impressed with Museveni victory despite allegations of fraud

  • January 17, 2021

    Guinea president, Alpha Conde becomes first African leader to receive Covid-19 jab

  • January 17, 2021

    Ghanaian Pastor murders daughter over allege witchcraft

  • January 17, 2021

    UK bans deadly Chinese hand sanitiser containing toxic substance

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • Lagos govt confirms first case of deadly coronavirus infection in Nigeria

    By alternativeafrica
    February 28, 2020
  • Keynote Address of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at 2018 Oxford Africa Conference

    By PSJ Africa
    May 14, 2018
  • Morocco begins regional integration by connecting Casablanca Airport with High Speed Train

    By alternativeafrica
    January 4, 2020
  • Kenyan govt pressure Facebook for data on Kenyan users

    By alternativeafrica
    November 20, 2019
  • Nigeria: 32,000 capacity Lagos rice mill to start production in 2020

    By alternativeafrica
    December 23, 2019
  • The return of fortress conservation: why excluding people means biodiversity conservation will fail – Future agricultures
    on
    October 16, 2020

    Inside the training camp of Akashinga, Zimbabwe’s armed, all-women anti-poaching rangers

    […] In parallel to ...
  • The return of fortress conservation: why excluding people means biodiversity conservation will fail - The Zimbabwean
    on
    October 12, 2020

    Inside the training camp of Akashinga, Zimbabwe’s armed, all-women anti-poaching rangers

    […] In parallel to ...
  • Ethiopia joins Africa's Artificial Intelligence revolution | Alternative Africa
    on
    October 2, 2020

    Spending on Artificial Intelligence Systems in Africa, Middle East to top $374 million in 2020

    […] Many African countries ...
  • The 5 most popular Africans 2020
    on
    September 25, 2020

    Celebrating Congolese doctor Jean-Jacques Muyembe, the man behind breakthrough of Ebola cure

    […] Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe ...
  • Millitants in Central Mali Set Jail Ablaze in Attack Killing Two | taktik(z) GDI (Government Defense ...
    on
    August 11, 2020

    Fifteen gendarmes killed in another attack on Mali camp

    […] attack fol­lowed a January ...
AlternativeAfrica.com is an independent Pan African News Website dedicated primarily to influencing the negative narratives about Africa. We hope to do this by focusing and showcasing the many developmental strides sweeping across the continent.

Read more >>>

Contact Info

  • 22 Laburnum Court, Laburnum Road, Mitcham London, CR4 2NA, United Kingdom
  • +44(0)2036320939 | +44(0)7535019197 | +44(0)7305356327
  • info@alternativeafrica.com
  • Recent

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • Joe Biden to prioritize legal status for millions of immigrants

    By alternativeafrica
    January 17, 2021
  • EU impressed with Museveni victory despite allegations of fraud

    By alternativeafrica
    January 17, 2021
  • Guinea president, Alpha Conde becomes first African leader to receive Covid-19 jab

    By alternativeafrica
    January 17, 2021
  • Ghanaian Pastor murders daughter over allege witchcraft

    By alternativeafrica
    January 17, 2021
  • Lagos govt confirms first case of deadly coronavirus infection in Nigeria

    By alternativeafrica
    February 28, 2020
  • Keynote Address of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at 2018 Oxford Africa Conference

    By PSJ Africa
    May 14, 2018
  • Macron in Ivory Coast to launch anti-terrorism academy

    By alternativeafrica
    December 21, 2019
  • Kenyan govt pressure Facebook for data on Kenyan users

    By alternativeafrica
    November 20, 2019
  • The return of fortress conservation: why excluding people means biodiversity conservation will fail – Future agricultures
    on
    October 16, 2020

    Inside the training camp of Akashinga, Zimbabwe’s armed, all-women anti-poaching rangers

    […] In parallel to ...
  • The return of fortress conservation: why excluding people means biodiversity conservation will fail - The Zimbabwean
    on
    October 12, 2020

    Inside the training camp of Akashinga, Zimbabwe’s armed, all-women anti-poaching rangers

    […] In parallel to ...
  • Ethiopia joins Africa's Artificial Intelligence revolution | Alternative Africa
    on
    October 2, 2020

    Spending on Artificial Intelligence Systems in Africa, Middle East to top $374 million in 2020

    […] Many African countries ...
  • The 5 most popular Africans 2020
    on
    September 25, 2020

    Celebrating Congolese doctor Jean-Jacques Muyembe, the man behind breakthrough of Ebola cure

    […] Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe ...

Photostream

    Follow us

    • Home
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
    © Copyright Alternative Africa 2019. All rights reserved.