Africa bears 25% of global disease burden yet contributes under 4% to clinical trials, AKUH warns

Health sector leaders from the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Nairobi, have issued a stark warning regarding Africa’s heavy reliance on external health expertise and research, cautioning that the status quo places the continent at severe risk. Speaking at a high-level media briefing in Addis Ababa, AKUH Chief Executive Officer Rashid Khalani and Head of Communications Antony Kargiri highlighted a profound systemic gap in local scientific infrastructure. While Africa shoulders 25% of the global disease burden and accounts for 17% of the world’s population, it contributes less than 4% to worldwide clinical trials and remains vastly underrepresented in genomic data and medical innovation. “We have a massive population, but when the COVID pandemic hit and AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Pfizer rolled out their vaccines, we were begging, asking when the vaccines would come to us,” Khalani stated.