Building African Trial Feasibility: What the Research Says

Over the past two decades, the work that's shaped Henaza Consulting's approach to clinical trials in Africa has come from direct experience in the field — including two research collaborations that speak to that approach in practice.

In 2023, Ghiorghis Belai contributed to "Data-driven epidemiologic approach to conducting site feasibility for a global phase III tuberculosis vaccine clinical trial," published in PLOS Global Public Health. The paper lays out a methodology for evaluating trial sites using disease prevalence and epidemiologic data rather than assumptions or convenience — the same evidence-first thinking that underpins Henaza Consulting's feasibility work today. Read the paper →

Earlier in his career, he was part of the team behind "Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate for Prevention of HIV Infection in Women: A Phase 2, Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial," published in PLOS Clinical Trials in 2007 — landmark research in HIV prevention that reinforced how much rigorous trial design and execution matter in the populations that need it most. Read the paper →

That throughline — that good trials start with good groundwork — is also what brought him to the stage at TCIS Africa 2026, where he spoke on "Building Research Sites That Last." He followed up with two reflections on what the conference surfaced: [Building Research Sites That Last: Lessons from TCIS Africa → https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/building-research-sites-last-lessons-from-tcis-africa-belai-jzpef] and [Beyond Infectious Disease: The Case for NCD & Chronic Trials in Africa → https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/beyond-infectious-disease-case-ncd-chronic-trials-africa-belai-kda0f]. Both come back to the same question sponsors and biotechs bring to Henaza Consulting every day: not just where to run a trial, but how to make sure the site, the strategy, and the region are actually a fit before the work begins.