Project description
A closer look at clinical trial oversight in sub-Sharan Africa
In sub-Saharan Africa, research ethics committees (RECs) often lack the capacity to review and oversee clinical trials effectively, exacerbated by a scarcity of national accreditation systems and widespread reliance on outdated paper-based processes. Moreover, many clinical trials remain unregistered with international registries. To address these gaps, the EU-funded SECRET project is tackling these challenges in Uganda and Ethiopia. It aims to establish national REC accreditation systems, enhance REC capacity for trial oversight — including during emergencies — and create national clinical trial registries linked to the Pan-African Clinical Trial Registry (PACTR). The project will also implement digital protocol submission systems to modernise review processes. Collaborating institutions, including Makerere University and the National Drug Authority of Uganda, are key to this initiative’s success.
Objective
BACKGROUND
There are few research ethics committees (RECs) with capacity to review and provide oversight for clinical trials in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and hardly any national accreditation systems used to evaluate the quality of review by these RECs. Although digital protocol submission systems improve RECs efficiency, up to 48% RECs in SSA still use paper-based systems. Additionally, many (single country) clinical trials in SSA are not registered with any internationally recognized clinical trials registry. The SECRET project seeks to address these challenges in Uganda and Ethiopia, by establishing national RECs accreditation systems, building capacity of RECs to review clinical trials (including during outbreaks and emergencies), establishing national clinical trials registries linked to the Pan African Clinical trial registry (PACTR), and developing digital protocol submission systems.
METHODOLOGY
The SECRET project includes partners that have worked together in other EDCTP-funded projects, to address the identified gaps through four objectives and six work packages. We will leverage the experience of the Uganda National accreditation system to establish a national accreditation system for Ethiopia and accredit at least two RECs in Ethiopia and two in Uganda. We will also leverage the expertise of the PACTR to set up the Uganda National Clinical Trial Registry. Nuvoteq that have experience in digital solutions for health care services will support Ethiopia to set-up the digital protocol submission systems. We shall also leverage the expertise of Makerere University bioethics training unit and the National Drug Authority of Uganda to build capacity for clinical trial review and oversight for the RECs to be accredited. The Uganda National Health Research Organisation and Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, which are the coordination institutes, have worked together on ALERRT, an epidemics preparedness consortium funded by EDCTP.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.2.1 - Health
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-JU-CSA - HORIZON JU Coordination and Support Actions
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-JU-GH-EDCTP3-2023-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
2000 ANTWERPEN
Belgium
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