Background: Cochrane review authors face difficulties identifying ongoing trials in regions where trials registries do not exist. In 2007, the South African Cochrane Centre established the Pan African Clinical Trials Registry (www.pactr.org) to provide a platform to prospectively register all clinical trials conducted in Africa. In 2009, www.pactr.org became a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed primary register displaying the required 20-item minimum dataset. Objectives: 1) To categorise interventions in trials registered on www.pactr.org and map these to published Cochrane reviews or protocols 2) To demonstrate the use of searching www.pactr.org for review authors. Methods: We downloaded details of trials registered on www.pactr.org on 23 March 2010. Two independent investigators extracted trial data, including disease and intervention details. We searched the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) 2010, Issue 2 for published reviews or protocols evaluating the interventions reported in these trials. Results: Twenty-five trials are registered on www.pactr.org. Thirteen are randomized controlled trials of efficacy, meeting Cochrane review criteria. We categorized nine trials evaluating treatments, three evaluating prevention interventions and one assessing diagnostic algorithms. The nine treatment trials evaluate drugs for malaria (2), tuberculosis (2), and hyperkalaemia (1), drugs for anaesthesia (1), fluids for surgical irrigation (1), provision of economic incentives (1) and effects of patient advocates (1) on adherence. The three prevention trials evaluate drugs for preventing malaria (2) and behavioural interventions for reducing risky sexual behaviour in HIV-positive adults (1). Our search of CDSR identified nine reviews and one protocol where data from eight of the above ongoing trials would be eligible for inclusion. No review reported these. Conclusion: Searching www.pactr.org identified ongoing African trials which should ideally be included in updates of reviews. Access to www.pactr.org is free and authors are encouraged to search it using the disease field. Sensitivity may be greatest for topics prevalent in resource-poor settings.