Africa behind in research

Paris – Just 4%of scientific research published on Covid-19 is relevant to Africa in spite of the continent containing close to a fifth of humanity, according to an analysis published yesterday.

With nearly four million confirmed cases across the continent, the authors said the relative lack of research on Africa or authored by Africans added to the growing body of “evidence of coloniality in global health research and decision-making”.

Researchers analysed more than 2 000 peer-reviewed articles published in the 10 leading health and medical journals between 1 January and 30 September last year.

Just 94 of 2 196 articles – around four percent – contained content related to Africa or a specific African country.

In the articles relevant to Africa, 210 of 619 listed authors were African – 34%.

That means two-thirds of the authors of Covid-19 research related to the continent were non-African, compared with African authors making up three percent of the authors of non-Africa-focused research.

Africa is home to 17% of the world’s population.

The authors of the analysis, published in the online journal BMJ Global Health, said African authors have historically been under-represented across scientific research.

“Health policy is not only informed by original research; sensible, contextually appropriate guidelines, opinions and commentary are also essential to improving the functioning of healthcare systems,” they wrote.

“This is especially true during times of surge, when original research can be challenging to produce in low-resource settings.

“African voices and research are needed to guide the local pandemic response,” they concluded.

They called for governments to increase research funding, particularly into infectious diseases, and said scientific journals had a role to play in ensuring their studies are more representative of the global population. –