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The Pan African Clinical Trials Registry (PACTR; www.pactr.org) is presently the only African Primary Registry member of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Registry Network.

PACTR began in 2007 as a disease-specific registry focusing on AIDS, TB and Malaria . In June 2009 the registry expanded its remit to include all randomized and controlled clinical trials being conducted in Africa. PACTR’s mission is to harmonize regulatory, registration and ethical review efforts for clinical trials. PACTR aims to increase transparency and provide networking for researchers who conduct clinical trials in Africa.

PACTR’s objective is to foster collaboration and networking amongst clinical trial stakeholders (trialists, regulatory authorities, national registries, and others). The registry provides an open-access platform where clinical trials can be freely registered, thus fulfilling publication mandates set by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Trial data is fed into the WHO’s International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP). The ICTRP search engine provides a database of all clinical trials registered on the continent, which ensures that these trials are represented in global clinical trial data.