Research
Lupus research in Africa
Africa should not have to rely solely on solutions developed elsewhere to address its lupus burden. African patients must be at the centre of defining the problems, generating the evidence, shaping the solutions, and influencing the policies that affect their lives.
Why African evidence matters
Most of what is known about lupus was not learned here
Much of the global evidence base for lupus comes from populations, health systems and treatment environments that look very little like those across Africa. Yet clinical guidance, treatment expectations and health financing decisions are often built on that evidence.
The result is a gap between what the literature assumes and what patients here actually experience: longer diagnostic delays, different access constraints, different costs, different comorbidities and different social realities.
Closing that gap requires evidence generated in Africa, with African patients as partners rather than subjects.
How LFA contributes
- Documenting lived experience systematically, so patient reality becomes usable evidence
- Bringing patient voice into research design, priorities and interpretation
- Connecting researchers to a patient community across seven countries
- Translating findings back into policy and practice, and into plain language for patients
- Exploring participation in international lupus registries and collaborative studies
LFA's research collaborations are being formalised. We publish partnerships and studies here once they are confirmed, rather than announcing work that is still under discussion.
Are you a researcher studying lupus in Africa?
We would like to hear from you. LFA can contribute patient perspective, community reach, advisory input and dissemination, and we are open to collaboration on study design and priority setting.
Connect with LFAResearch principles we work by
- Nothing about us without us
- Informed, freely given and revocable consent
- Findings returned to the community in plain language
- African authorship and African institutional partnership
- No extraction of data without benefit to participants
An informed patient is better positioned to communicate with clinicians, participate meaningfully in decisions about their care, and advocate for themselves.
Partner with us on lupus research
Universities, research institutions, registries and clinical networks working on lupus or autoimmune rheumatic disease in Africa are welcome to get in touch.