Building a legacy? Ambivalent impacts of a malaria vaccine clinical trial

Abstract

This article examines infrastructure and technology assembled to support a malaria vaccine clinical trial, conducted between 2009 and 2014. It draws on ethnographic fieldwork at a medical research centre in north-eastern Tanzania, with additional data from interviews with researchers, vaccine scientists and trial funders. The infrastructure and technology were conceived of as enabling the development of a vaccine and facilitating future medical research and health care provision in Tanzania. However, after the clinical trial ended, these material remains were decaying, repurposed or lacked long-term sustainability without continued research funding. For trial staff in Tanzania, this led to expressions of affect, including disappointment, ambivalence and frustration as expectations for the future were foreclosed. The author argues that the material remains of the clinical trial had varied impacts and, furthermore, ambivalence is an embedded part of clinical trials due to their time constraints and lack of local rooting. The end of this clinical trial exposes the limitations of global health research in bringing about lasting change to low-resource settings. This article highlights the need to consider the life of material objects after research concludes.