Background: Ninety per cent of the estimated deaths due to malaria occur in sub-Saharan Africa, with 77% of these in children under five years. Although estimated African malaria mortality rates decreased by 54% between 2000 and 2013, much needs to be done to ensure optimization of life-saving malaria interventions. The Pan African Clinical Trials Registry (www.pactr.org; PACTR), launched in 2007, provides online information about completed, ongoing and planned clinical trials in Africa, which can be used to apply the best available strategies to treat and prevent disease, and plan future research.
Objectives: To analyse interventions reported in malaria trials conducted in Africa and registered on PACTR between 2007 and 2014, and to compare them against those included in a cohort of pre-2007 trials, to highlight trends and possible gaps in interventions.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of trials currently registered on www.pactr.org, and extracted those reporting malaria interventions. Data extraction included number of trials, location, intervention studied, and participant age range. Descriptive analysis was run in MS Excel.
Results: Of 388 studies registered on www.pactr.org from 1 May 2007 to December 2014, 51 trials reported on planned or ongoing research on malaria interventions. Of these, 24 reported on treatment, 26 on prevention and one on other interventions. For the prevention trials, seven included drug interventions, 15 reported on vaccines, two on mosquito control, and two on other methods. Compared to the older cohort, there is an increase in the number of vaccines trials (from 15.7% to 57.6%) and a decrease in the number of mosquito control trials (from 26.3% to 7.6%). Other comparative analyses are ongoing.
Conclusions: A comparison of African malaria trials pre-2007 and from 2007 to 2014 revealed changes in research trends. Searches of registers such as PACTR are indispensable tools to allow up-to date research monitoring and appropriate planning for future initiatives.