$38 million project targets African populations for new insights into genes, environment and health
23 June 2010
The Human Heredity and Health in Africa Project (H3 Africa), established by the Wellcome Trust and the US National Institutes of Health, will see African researchers leading studies of population-wide diseases on the African continent. These will cover both non-communicable diseases and disorders, such as diabetes and mental health, and infectious diseases such as tuberculosis.
Over the next five years, H3 Africa will receive at least $12 million (around £8 million) from the Wellcome Trust and $5 million (around £3.4 million) a year from the NIH, along with administrative and scientific support. The NIH has already provided $750 000 to kick-start the project.
The aim is to discover how genes affect the way the human body responds to environmental factors, such as diet, and how this influences the risk of disease.
"Though we don't often think of it, genes have important influences on the way an individual responds to an infection, either affecting how severely a person becomes ill or sometimes changing the way medications work to fight the infection. We've known for years that common diseases like diabetes and hypertension run in families, clearly showing a genetic component," said Sir Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust.
Previous research suggests that there is greater genetic diversity in African populations than those in Europe and Asia. The project may help researchers identify rare genetic variations that affect patients all over the world. And as new genetic factors are identified, this may open up new ways to diagnose disease and develop treatments.
Moreover, African populations offer unique opportunities to conduct studies on environmental factors such as high-salt diets, as well as the effects of neglected diseases such as filariasis.
The African Society for Human Genetics is helping to organise research groups. Key to the project will be building research capacity, including infrastructure and training in African countries such as Cameroon, Ghana, Mali, Sudan, Tanzania, and Tunisia.
Researchers funded under H3 Africa will establish or enhance local research facilities in their home country. This will enable them to use genome-wide scanning and sequencing technologies to identify genetic changes that contribute to the diseases and disorders selected for study.
"In the past, many research projects simply took samples from Africa and conducted the studies back in Western labs," said Dr Charles N Rotimi, President of the African Society and Director of the Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health at the National Human Genome Research Institute in the USA.
"H3 Africa will build the capacity for African researchers to study African populations to solve African problems, and will create strong collaborations between African researchers and those in Europe, the United States, and other parts of the world."
Two working groups, on communicable and non-communicable disease, have been set up to help guide the initiative. These will convene for a series of planning meetings at the University of Oxford in August and Cape Town, South Africa, in the autumn.
Image: Masai people in Tanzania. Credit: Wellcome Images
