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African scientists race to test COVID drugs — but face major hurdles

In a bid to stave off looming disaster, scientists are trying to repurpose drugs used for malaria and other diseases, but infrastructure and recruitment challenges stymie progress.
  1. Abdullahi Tsanni

    1. Abdullahi Tsanni is a science journalist in Abuja, Nigeria.

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A nurse wearing PPE prepares a treatment for a COVID-19 patient in a hospital in Dakar

A nurse in Senegal treats people who have COVID-19. Credit: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters/Alamy

For more than a year, Adeola Fowotade struggled to recruit people to a clinical trial for COVID-19 treatments. A clinical virologist at University College Hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria, she joined the effort in August 2020, which aims to test the efficacy of a combination of readily available drugs. Her goal was to find 50 volunteers — people diagnosed with COVID-19 who had moderate to severe symptoms and might benefit from the drug cocktail. But the recruitment effort crawled along, even as cases of the virus surged in Nigeria in January and February. After 8 months, she had managed to enlist only 44 people.

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Nature 599, 25-27 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02995-5

Updates & Corrections

  • Clarification 10 November 2021: An earlier version of this article stated that the ANTICOV programme is run by the DNDi. In fact, the DNDi is coordinating ANTICOV, which is run by 26 partners.

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