African Medicines Lack Adequate Testing, Warns Expert

Professor Mahmoud Bukar Maina, a Nigerian neuroscientist and Director of the Biomedical Science Research and Training Centre at Yobe State University, warned that Africans risk consuming medicines not adequately tested on their populations. Speaking at the 23rd Scientific Conference and Annual General Meeting of the Neuroscience Society of Nigeria in Abuja, he highlighted that African populations are often underrepresented in clinical testing, which affects the understanding of drug efficacy and side effects.

Maina noted that less than one percent of global dementia research has originated from Africa, despite projections of a 348 percent increase in dementia cases in West Africa over the next 25 years. He called for greater investment in research that addresses Africa's specific health needs, citing funding and inadequate resources as significant challenges.

His research program aims to generate evidence specific to African populations, utilizing advanced techniques like induced pluripotent stem-cell technology to study dementia.