SCAFFOLD-BASED NANOMEDICINE FOR CANCER, DIABETES, AND MALARIA IN EAST AFRICA: A COMPARATIVE REVIEW OF TRANSLATIONAL BOTTLENECKS AND REGULATORY READINESS

Abstract

Cancer, type 2 diabetes, and malaria impose a triple pharmacological burden on East Africa. In 2022, sub-Saharan Africa recorded an estimated 118,000 new cervical cancer cases and 76,000 cervical cancer deaths, and Kaposi’s sarcoma incidence in Southern and Eastern Africa is far above the global average. Type 2 diabetes is rapidly increasing in the region and carries the world’s highest proportion of undiagnosed cases. In 2023, the WHO African Region accounted for approximately 95% of the world’s 597,000 malaria deaths. This review compares six such scaffolds platinum-based DNA-crosslinking agents and tubulin-binding stilbenes for cervical cancer and Kaposi’s sarcoma, the biguanide core and dietary flavonoids for type 2 diabetes, and the artemisinin endoperoxide and 4-aminoquinoline cores for malaria against the general logic of nanocarrier drug delivery established by landmark work on the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect, ligand-targeted nanocarriers, and the first FDA-approved nanomedicine, liposomal doxorubicin. In preclinical models, nanocarrier reformulation has been shown to improve pharmacokinetic parameters and reduce off-target toxicity for several of the scaffolds discussed, though outcomes vary by platform and disease and clinical confirmation remains limited; median tumour-accumulation efficiency for nanoparticles remains below 1% of the administered dose even for the most clinically advanced platforms, and artemisinin partial resistance driven by Plasmodium falciparum kelch13 mutations is now confirmed in Rwanda, Uganda, Eritrea, Tanzania, and beyond. Study conclude by proposing a four-criterion prioritization framework burden fit, bottleneck match, manufacturing feasibility, and regulatory tractability for scaffold–nanocarrier candidates suited to the health-systems realities of Tanzania and the wider East African Community.

                 

Peer Review History:

Received 4 June 2026;   Reviewed 9 July 2026; Accepted  6 August; Available online 15 September 2026

Academic Editor: Dr. Amany Mohamed Alboghdadly, Ibn Sina National College for Medical Studies in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, [email protected] 

Reviewers:

Dr. Md. Shahidul Islam, USTC, Chittagong, Bangladesh, [email protected]

Dr. Mohsen Ali Al-Hamzi, Thamar University, Factuality of Dentistry, Yemen. [email protected]