WHO Alignment and Disease Burden Gaps

Abstract

In the context of global health prioritization, does Africa's clinical trial portfolio correspond with the World Health Organization (WHO) priority disease list and the health aims of the Sustainable Development Goals? In this alignment analysis, condition-specific trial volumes from 23,873 African registrations on ClinicalTrials.gov were compared to SDG 3 priority conditions and WHO important medications. HIV (1,793 trials), malaria (531 trials), and tuberculosis (489 trials) predominated Africa's trial portfolio, while WHO-designated priorities such as mental health (174 trials), neglected tropical diseases (12 trials), and epilepsy (73 trials) were neglected. Non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes (760), cancer (2,182), and cardiovascular disease (1,426), have received research focus that is out of step with their increasing role in African mortality. Only studies on tuberculosis and malaria revealed that Africa had a higher trial density than the world average. In Ghana, morbidity and mortality associated with the evolving disease burden are increasing, yet the volume of clinical trials remains limited.These results show a systematic gap between WHO priorities and the epidemiological transition and Africa's research portfolio. The mapping between WHO priority classifications and ClinicalTrials.gov condition categories restricts interpretation.