Enabling the genomic revolution in Africa

By E. Matovu, B. Bucheton, J. Chisi, J. Enyaru, C. Hertz-Fowler, M. Koffi, A. MacLeod, D. Mumba, I. Sidibé, G. Simo and 34 more. 2014

296 citations recorded by the source corpus.

H3Africa is developing capacity for health-related genomics research in Africa Our understanding of genome biology, genomics, and disease, and even human history, has advanced tremendously with the completion of the Human Genome Project. Technological advances coupled with significant cost reductions in genomic research have yielded novel insights into disease etiology, diagnosis, and therapy for some of the world's most intractable and devastating diseases—including malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, cancer, and diabetes. Yet, despite the burden of infectious diseases and, more recently, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in Africa, Africans have only participated minimally in genomics research. Of the thousands of genome-wide association studies (GWASs) that have been conducted globally, only seven (for HIV susceptibility, malaria, tuberculosis, and podoconiosis) have been conducted exclusively on African participants; four others (for prostate cancer, obsessive compulsive disorder, and anthropometry) included some African participants (www.genome.gov/gwastudies/). As discussed in 2011 (www.h3africa.org), if the dearth of genomics research involving Africans persists, the potential health and economic benefits emanating from genomic science may elude an entire continent.

Subfields: Genetics, Molecular Biology

Citations in the corpus

• Extracting research-quality phenotypes from electronic health records to support precision medicine (2015, unknown): “H3Africa Consortium, Rotimi C, Abayomi A, Abimiku A, Adabayeri VM, Adebamowo C, et al. Research capacity.”
• The critical needs and challenges for genetic architecture studies in Africa (2018, unknown): “Its aim is to build the capacity for African scientists to conduct genomic research on heritable diseases afflicting Africans [30,31].”