‘We won’t let it be in vain’: What communities need scientists to know about clinical trials

WHO Global Clinical Trials Forum
Agreeing on a global vision for sustainable clinical research infrastructure & capacity
20 – 21 November 2023, Geneva, Switzerland

The African Alliance Founder & Strategist shared opening remarks at the Inaugural WHO Global Clinical Trials Forum.

WHO’s member states passed resolution 75.8 for strengthening clinical trials at the World Health Assembly in May 2022. This recognised the importance of the strengthening of the global and national clinical trial ecosystems to advance.

1) equitable clinical trial capacity development,
2) health outcomes related to endemic diseases at national and regional level and
3) to provide functional capacities that can pivot in times of emergencies.

Building and sustaining global clinical trial infrastructure capable of generating evidence to enable country level decision making, and maintaining continual capacity to pivot to emergency response research requires a new global approach from the research community, with strong political support to do so and a global commitment to cooperate, collaborate, build, and fund sustained clinical research capacity.

The investment case for strong global clinical research systems integrated into strong healthcare systems, supported by governments and international bodies is strong yielding both economic benefit and advances in treatments, preventives, diagnostics and other interventions or community, national, regional and global population.

Perhaps equally important, investment can lead to continuously functional and utilized trial infrastructure with ongoing rigorous research efforts responsive to government needs and which can respond quickly to outbreaks helping to mitigate infectious disease threats. Developing and applying an agreed set of clinical research capacity metrics will help direct resources where they are most needed and facilitate linkages with international clinical trial collaborations to advance sustainability and capacity development. Identifying strong clinical trials networks can facilitate both use and resourcing from diverse providers for endemic and epidemic infections and for non-communicable use cases. Such research embedded in routine work enhances clinical care, provides faster access to innovations and improves patient outcomes.

Enabling an environment for robust clinical trials, and the ability to pivot as needed to research
for a regional or global health emergency will require planned coordinated logistical,
regulatory, ethical, and safety oversight at national, regional, and global levels.