The Pan African Clinical Trials Registry (PACTR) is managed by Cochrane SA. It was initially funded by the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership. PACTR began in 2007 with a focus on AIDS, TB and Malaria. In 2009 it was expanded to include all disease conditions. Randomised and controlled clinical trials are accepted. PACTR is presently the only African Primary Registry in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Registry Network. PACTR collects a WHO mandated 20-item data set and offers trialist in Africa a local registering system. This provides enough information to uniquely identify each trial. Over 1400 trials are registered on the database.