Accra, Nov. 7, GNA - Two African universities are to run a course in clinical trials into drugs and medical intervention as part of measures to turn out experts from Africa who would satisfy national and international regulatory requirement in medical research.

The University of Ghana together with Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, (NMIMR) and a university in Burkina Faso are to lead the way in clinical research programme to ensure that the continent catches up with the rest of the world in scientific research. Professor Fred Binka, an international researcher on malaria vaccines and drug intervention, said the present capacity for conducting clinical trials in Africa was insufficient or even non-existent in virtually all countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

He therefore called for investment in clinical research in developing countries that would respond to the local health needs of populations in these countries.

Prof. Binka was speaking at the opening of a five-day media workshop on reporting on malaria research in Africa. Some 40 journalists from nine African countries including Ghana, Kenya, Senegal and Malawi, where trial sites on malaria vaccines and drug research are currently taking place, are attending the workshop. INDEPTH Network, an international research organisation and Women, Media and Change (WOMEC), a non-governmental organization, are organising the workshop.

INDEPTH is overseeing the Malaria Clinical Trial Alliance (MCTA), a project funded through a 17 million-dollar grant provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to conduct trials into malaria vaccines and drug intervention in Ghana, Mozambique, Senegal, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Nigeria and the Gambia.

Prof. Binka, the Executive Director of INDEPTH Network, said there should be a concerted effort to make clinical trials a primary research agenda for Africa.

He said although the number of foreign clinical investigators outside the United States had increased from 271 in 1990 to about 4,458 in 1999, most of the clinical trials into drugs and vaccines were taking place in Asia and Latin America leaving behind Africa.

He said drugs being developed were being tested against diseases and conditions in those two continents leaving out Africa. According to Prof Binka, Africa should not be left out because there was the need for clinical trials to take place in Africa to test the efficacy of the drugs on population groups on the continent to find out more about its suitability to the needs of Africans. He said there were various sero-types of one disease condition peculiar to each region of the world and Africa should be part of the formulation of vaccines adding that this was the only way to know the drug or vaccine most suited to a disease condition or sero-type peculiar to continent.

Prof. Binka called for a Food and Drugs Administration for Africa as is the case for Europe to regulate drugs and vaccines being developed and sold in Africa.

Mrs Bernadette Esa Chinery-Hesse, Executive Secretary of WOMEC, said the workshop aims at introducing journalists to scientific concepts in malaria research and to enhance their reporting skills. It was also to provide an opportunity to the journalist and health researchers and scientists to talk about how they could work together to eradicate the disease, she said. 7 Nov. 06