Dr Marianne Mureithi, Director of the KAVI–Institute of Clinical Research During the Conference. /PHOTO; Courtesy
African countries are being urged to strengthen how health research is financed, developed, and translated into solutions that respond to the continent’s needs.
The call came during the Culture of Science Conference 2026 in Nairobi, which brought together policymakers, researchers, financiers, regulators, innovators, educators, youth, media practitioners and civil society under the theme “Shaping Africa’s Future through Science.”
The conference was convened by the Coalition for Health Research and Development (CHReaD) in partnership with Speak Up Africa, Amref Health Africa, Africa Health Research, Innovation and Development Alliance (AHRIDA) and Faith to Action Network.
Discussions focused on strengthening African research systems, building local capacity, public trust in science and ensuring investments translate into better health outcomes for African populations across Africa.
Communities Should Help Set the Research Agenda
Dr Christian Rusangwa, Director of Technical Assistance at Muso, an organisation working to remove barriers to healthcare access among vulnerable communities, said communities should have a stronger voice in determining research priorities.
Muso works through operational research, service delivery and technical assistance to governments, giving the organisation experience in understanding how health interventions reach communities.
Rusangwa said community perspectives should be considered from the earliest stages of research, including when research questions are developed.
He noted that research questions are often defined by funders or academics, while communities affected by diseases may have limited influence over what is studied.
Funding can also shape priorities because those financing trials may influence the questions asked and outcomes pursued.
“It’s important that we keep communities’ interests in mind,” Rusangwa said, stressing that those setting the research agenda should also consider the perspectives and priorities of affected communities.
He said involving communities in agenda-setting could help ensure that research responds to challenges people face and generates evidence relevant to their needs.
Community participation, he added, should complement national health research priorities and government needs when health research programmes and interventions are designed and implemented.
KAVI Pushes for African-Led Research
Dr Marianne Mureithi, Director of the KAVI–Institute of Clinical Research at the University of Nairobi, said African-led research requires institutions to develop questions that reflect the health challenges facing local African populations.
Located at Kenyatta National Hospital, KAVI conducts research close to affected communities.
Mureithi said the institute had historically functioned mainly as a clinical trial site, receiving products and implementing studies whose research questions had already been developed elsewhere.
“A few years ago, we said, ‘Enough is enough. We have to be African-led,’” she said.
She explained that African leadership is not simply about having Africans in senior positions, but ensuring research is shaped by the people and communities it is intended to serve.
The institute has focused on identifying health challenges affecting Kenyans, including cancers that remain poorly screened in Kenya.
KAVI’s non-communicable disease and infectious disease units are examining conditions ranging from HIV and other diseases to neglected diseases, emerging and re-emerging infections and pandemic factors.
Community engagement is helping to shape these priorities. When researchers meet communities to discuss clinical trials, Mureithi said, questions raised by residents can reveal areas for investigation.
She cited a recent collaboration with a pharmaceutical company seeking to introduce chemotherapy drugs in Africa. KAVI scientists challenged the proposed approach because one drug targets BRCA mutations, prompting the partners to co-create a protocol to establish which mutations are driving prostate, breast and ovarian cancers among Kenyan populations.
Mureithi said such evidence could help pharmaceutical companies develop treatments better suited to African populations.
After conducting more than 20 clinical trials, she said KAVI is increasingly asking what drives diseases, how they can be prevented and how research questions can be developed jointly with communities.
Trust, she added, is central to this process.
“Institutional approval gives permission for research, but trust is social permission from communities to participate,” she said.
KAVI uses advisory groups and community health workers to understand concerns and help shape study protocols. Researchers also return to communities after studies to share findings.
Mureithi pointed to discoveries, including broadly neutralising antibodies relevant to HIV cure and prevention research, that have emerged from Kenyan communities.
She said those communities should be recognised, informed about the findings and able to benefit from scientific advances.
Research Must Build Lasting Local Capacity
Prof. Samuel Kariuki, African Continental Lead and Eastern Africa Director at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), said research on neglected tropical diseases must remain connected to communities where the diseases are most prevalent.
DNDi works at grassroots level because neglected tropical diseases disproportionately affect poor and vulnerable populations.
“We work actually at the grassroots. And basically go to the grassroots because this is where the diseases are. These are communities that are affected by NTDs, and the most affected are poor and vulnerable,” Kariuki said.
The organisation works with Ministries of Health in countries where it operates to coordinate activities while maintaining a community focus.
Through local champions, DNDi identifies areas where it can strengthen clinical trial performance and build research capacity.
Kariuki said one challenge is maintaining trained personnel at research sites. Staff may leave after receiving specialised training, creating gaps in continuity and making it difficult for institutions to sustain research standards.
Some institutions, he added, also approach research mainly from a funding perspective, requiring organisations to demonstrate that their work serves populations while building capacity that can continue after external support ends.
“We also encounter systems that are very weak. Sometimes you really have to put in effort to build that capacity and maintain consistency, which are very, very important as far as infrastructure is concerned,” he said.
DNDi responds by developing local champions at sites who can maintain research standards even when the organisation is not physically present.
For Kariuki, local ownership is essential because research should respond to health needs identified by communities rather than being driven primarily by donor priorities.
“You are guided by the local needs of the population, but you must also be ensuring that there is a long-term sustainability model for whatever you’re trying to do there,” he said.
He said sustainability should also be measured by the social and economic benefits that follow disease control.
For diseases such as visceral leishmaniasis, the goal should not end with treating patients. Recovery should enable affected people to return to their families, livelihoods, and communities.
“We did not just want to see patients treated, but also recovering from this sickness, and to become socially active members of our society, and be able to participate in this development ourselves,” Kariuki said.
Such an approach ensures that research contributes not only to better health outcomes but also to stronger communities and development.
