E156 Micro-Paper · Africa Clinical Trials

Maternal Anemia Pipeline

Anemia affects 40% of pregnant African women, contributing to maternal mortality...

Africa Trials
11
US Trials
244
Gap Ratio
22x
Nations
54
Key Finding
Africa hosted 11 anemia AND pregnancy trials versus 244 in the United States, a 22-fold disparity in research investment.
Regional Comparison
No data
Maternal Anemia Pipeline by Country Egypt: 11752 Algeria: N/A Morocco: 162 Tunisia: 540 Senegal: N/A Ghana: 261 Nigeria: 379 Cameroon: N/A DRC: N/A Ethiopia: 302 Kenya: 788 Uganda: 809 Tanzania: 460 Rwanda: N/A South Africa: 3654 Egy 11752 Sou 3654 Uga 809 Ken 788 Tun 540 162 11752
Distribution Analysis
Regional Comparison Africa US Europe 0 100 200 300
Burden vs Investment 0 50 100 150 200 50000 100000 150000 Africa US Europe
Inequality Profile
Contribution Breakdown 11752 Egypt 3654 South Afri 809 Uganda 788 Kenya 540 Tunisia 2814 Others
Research Profile Volume Growth Phase3 Complete Diversity
Temporal & Structural
Enrollment Distribution Africa Reference 2000 4000 6000 8000
No data
Why It Matters

Anemia affects 40% of pregnant African women, contributing to maternal mortality and low birth weight, yet iron supplementation trial designs rarely account for malaria co-endemicity.

The Evidence   142 words · target 156
In the burden-versus-investment landscape of African health research, does the distribution of anemia AND pregnancy trials across African nations reveal a systematic research gap? This cross-sectional audit evaluated 23,873 African and 190,644 United States interventional trials registered on ClinicalTrials.gov through April 2026. Investigators computed the rate ratio comparing Africa to other regions as the primary estimand using registry metadata for each nation. Africa hosted 11 anemia AND pregnancy trials (0.0% of its portfolio) compared to 244 in the United States, yielding a 0.0-fold disparity in per-population investment. Temporal analysis showed 17.1-fold growth in African trial registrations from 2000-2005 to 2021-2025, though the gap with high-income regions persisted. These results expose a fundamental mismatch between where disease burden falls and where research investment flows across Africa. Interpretation is limited by the use of a single registry and the absence of non-English trial databases.
Sentence Structure
Question

In the burden-versus-investment landscape of African health research, does the distribution of anemia AND pregnancy trials across African nations reveal a systematic research gap?

Dataset

This cross-sectional audit evaluated 23,873 African and 190,644 United States interventional trials registered on ClinicalTrials.

Method

gov through April 2026.

Primary Result

Investigators computed the rate ratio comparing Africa to other regions as the primary estimand using registry metadata for each nation.

Robustness

Africa hosted 11 anemia AND pregnancy trials (0.

Interpretation

0% of its portfolio) compared to 244 in the United States, yielding a 0.

Boundary

0-fold disparity in per-population investment.

Extra

Temporal analysis showed 17.

Extra

1-fold growth in African trial registrations from 2000-2005 to 2021-2025, though the gap with high-income regions persisted.

Extra

These results expose a fundamental mismatch between where disease burden falls and where research investment flows across Africa.

Extra

Interpretation is limited by the use of a single registry and the absence of non-English trial databases.

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