Amount of research does not match disease burden in sub-Saharan Africa

Despite the large burden of disease in sub-Saharan Africa, few randomised controlled clinical trials are performed there. Isaakidis and colleagues (p 702) could identify only 1179 eligible randomised controlled trials conducted in sub-Saharan Africa over the past 50 years. There was a fairly good correlation between the amount of randomised evidence and the estimated burden of disease, but some disease categories were more neglected than others, with injuries being the worst. The authors recommend that African researchers have a meaningful say in setting research priorities, and outside support should help develop sustainable local research capacity.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    StumbleUpon    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Relation between burden of disease and randomised evidence in sub-Saharan Africa: survey of research

Petros Isaakidis, George H Swingler, Elizabeth Pienaar, Jimmy Volmink, and John P A Ioannidis
BMJ 2002 324: 702. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]