African countries have been sites for clinical trials by large pharmaceutical companies, raising human rights concerns.
[1] Incidents of unethical experimentation, clinical trials lacking properly informed consent, and forced medical procedures have been claimed and prosecuted.
A panel of medical experts later implicated Pfizer in the incident, concluding the drug had been administered as part of an illegal clinical trial without authorization from the Nigerian government or consent from the children's parents.
AZT trials conducted on HIV-positive African subjects by U.S. physicians and the University of Zimbabwe were performed without proper informed consent.
[citation needed] Most of the victims were males, young 16 to 24-year-old white men who were drafted into the army during the South African Border War.
[5] Eugen Fischer conducted sterilisation experiments on Herero women in German South-West Africa (now Namibia, less Walvis Bay etc.)
Late stage studies were later continued by Doctor Hans Harmsen [de], founder of the German branch of International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) who is also associated with the compulsory sterilisation in Nazi Germany.
[citation needed] Unethical medical experimentation that has occurred for over a century may be the cause of the documented fear and mistrust of doctors and medicine in Africa.
[11] The book and movie The Constant Gardener highlighted the dynamics of conduct in clinical trials in Africa in the slum areas.