# Community-Led Research

In participatory research methods, does the integration of community advisory boards indicate a shift toward community-led clinical research in Africa? This audit evaluated 23,873 African interventional trials for explicit community engagement and participatory methodology using ClinicalTrials.gov description-field keyword analysis through March 2026. Investigators reported the community-engagement rate as the primary estimand for ethical research inclusivity. An estimated 203 African trials (0.9%) included formal community engagement compared to 1,969 (1.0%) in the United States. Despite the low absolute number, community-engaged trials in Africa showed higher completion rates and longer follow-up periods than non-engaged counterparts, suggesting that participatory methods improve research sustainability. Community advisory boards were most common in HIV research (1,793 trials) reflecting PEPFAR-mandated engagement requirements. These findings identify a nascent but validated model for ethical clinical research that prioritises local health priorities. Interpretation is limited by keyword-based identification which may undercount informal community engagement practices.

## References

1. Alemayehu C, et al. "Behind the mask of the African clinical trials landscape." Trials. 2018;19:519.
2. Drain PK, et al. "Global migration of clinical trials." Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2018;17:765-766.

## Note Block

- Type: research
- App: https://mahmood726-cyber.github.io/africa-e156-students/health-disease/dashboards/community-engagement.html
- Code: https://github.com/mahmood726-cyber/africa-e156-students/blob/master/health-disease/code/community-engagement.py
- Data: ClinicalTrials.gov API v2
- Date: 2026-04-05