African scientists are now designing clinical trials, steering analysis and defining the questions that matter. Clinical trials are carefully structured studies that test whether new treatments, products or vaccines are safe and effective in people. They are a critical part of medical discovery and are now playing a significant role in accelerating the global search for an effective HIV vaccine. Most notably, PrEPVacc represents a first-in-world model: combining pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) with an HIV vaccine candidate in a single trial design. Complementing this work, AKIISA’s Platform for Africa Clinical Trials (PACT) project addresses Africa’s chronic underrepresentation in global research by specifically designing, hosting, and supporting clinical trials tailored to the continent’s populations, diseases, and healthcare contexts.