ArticleJournal of law and the biosciences
Cross-border data sharing for research in Africa: an analysis of the data protection and research ethics requirements in 12 jurisdictions.
Article in Journal of law and the biosciences. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Artificial intelligence for climate-health early warning systems in the Horn of Africa: opportunities, challenges, and a roadmap for action.Globalization and health · 2026Article
- Harnessing data science for health discovery and innovation in Africa (DS-I Africa).Communications medicine · 2026Article
- The Case for Genomic Surveillance in Africa.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2025Review
- Data science without borders: bridging the divide in data science capacity across African health institutions.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: In recent years, there has been a notable uptake in genomic and health-related research activities across the African continent. Similarly, there has been increased introduction of data protection legislation that affects the sharing of personal data, such as health data and genomic data, including for research. Many of these statutes have stricter requirements when sharing personal data across borders. Consequently, the cross-border sharing of health data, that includes genetic data, requires careful navigation of the pertinent data protection legislation, in particular concerning the sharing of such data for research purposes. To help researchers navigate these legal frameworks, 12 African countries were analysed to develop country guides on cross-border data sharing. Results: Of the 12 African countries that were analysed, 10 have data protection laws in place (Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe), while two countries (Cameroon and The Gambia) do not. (At the time of the study, Cameroon did not have a data protection regulation in place. Law No. 2024/017 on the Protection of Personal Data is now in force.) With the exception of Ghana, all countries with data protection statutes had additional requirements to be met when sharing personal data across borders. Consent and adequacy are the most common grounds for justifying the sharing of personal data across borders. Conclusion: Given the limitations of the current models of consent, consent is not a suitable basis to transfer large quantities of data for research. Adequacy is a common ground, but there are national differences in the implementation of this ground. Researchers must therefore analyse each national legal framework and make decisions on a case-by-case and country-by-country basis.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.