Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41295512›Full record

ArticleVaccines2025

Clinical Trial Safety Surveillance in Africa: Experts' Perspectives on Current Practices and Opportunities.

Chioma S Ejekam, Kwasi A Nyarko, Onome T Abiri, Yakubu N Beno, Rhanda M Adechina Adehan

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Vaccines, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Chioma S EjekamAfrican Vaccine Regulatory Forum, Disease Prevention and Control Cluster, World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa, Brazzaville P.O. Box 06, Congo.
Kwasi A NyarkoAfrican Vaccine Regulatory Forum, Disease Prevention and Control Cluster, World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa, Brazzaville P.O. Box 06, Congo.
Onome T AbiriPharmacovigilance and Clinical Trial Department, Pharmacy Board of Sierra Leone, Central Medical Stores Compound New England Ville, Freetown P.O. Box 322, Sierra Leone.
Yakubu N BenoClinical Trials, Biologics and Vaccine Division, Drug Evaluation and Research (DER) Directorate, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control, Plot 1, Isolo Industrial Area, Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Isolo 102215, Nigeria.
Rhanda M Adechina AdehanAfrican Vaccine Regulatory Forum, Disease Prevention and Control Cluster, World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa, Brazzaville P.O. Box 06, Congo.

Funding

World Health Organization 001
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Clinical trial (CT) safety surveillance is critical to protecting participants and ensuring reliable evidence on the safety and efficacy of new medical products. This is especially relevant in Africa, where CT activity remains limited, regulatory maturity varies, and drug safety surveillance systems are under-resourced despite considerable demographic advantages and genetic and cultural diversity. Pre-licensure safety monitoring is a vital yet underdeveloped element of the research ecosystem, and the absence of a regional repository for safety data constrains early detection of risks, particularly in multi-country trials. To assess the current state of CT safety surveillance in Africa, a landscape analysis of the systems for clinical trial safety data reporting, collation, and analysis was conducted. Expert perspectives were synthesized to describe existing practices, identify key gaps, and propose opportunities for strengthening systems. Findings revealed limited regulatory capacity, limited drug safety monitoring expertise, and inadequate resources for causality assessment and aggregate data analysis. Despite these challenges, opportunities exist to strengthen CT safety surveillance through digitization of reporting systems, harmonization of serious adverse event forms, regional collaboration, and capacity building for strengthening the ecosystem. Experts emphasized the need for collaboration among regulators of member states, availability of electronic CT management platform in member states and a regional pre-licensure safety data repository to enable timely evidence generation, support member states, and ensure appropriate linkages between pre-licensure and post-market surveillance. Strengthening CT safety surveillance is critical for safeguarding participants, promoting ethical research, and enhancing Africa's role in global clinical research. The results of this landscape analysis provide a roadmap for building a coordinated model for pre-licensure safety monitoring across the continent.

Indexed as

Africaclinical trialdrug safety monitoring systempharmacovigilancepre-licensure safety surveillancesafety surveillance systems

Identifiers

PMID41295512
PMCPMC12656440

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

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.