Only 3.9% of clinical trials are conducted exclusively in Africa, according to a study of five major medical journals published between 2019 and 2024.

“This is a crisis of scientific accuracy,” wrote researchers in The Conversation, highlighting the bias in medical research despite Africa accounting for roughly 25% of the global disease burden and around 20% of the global population.

The lack of African representation in clinical trials means the eventual treatments that emerge may not work as well on the continent. “Genetics, environment and diet can radically alter how a body responds to a drug,” they wrote, pointing to evidence showing that some treatments have different safety profiles in Black patients. “It therefore makes no medical sense that an entire continent is left out of the trial net.”