The US National Institutes of Health and the London-based Wellcome Trust announced plans today to use genome-wide scanning and sequencing technologies to study genetic and environmental underpinnings of chronic diseases in Africa (press release).
The five-year, US$38-million project, called Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3 Africa), will award grants to African researchers after two working groups decide on the programme’s parameters, such as which populations and diseases to study, and which technologies to use.
Charles Rotimi, director of the Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health at the National Human Genome Research Institute, an arm of the National Institutes of Health, said the project would be “fundamentally different” to previous investments in medical researchi in Africa (press release). “In the past, many research projects simply took samples from Africa and conducted the studies back in Western labs. H3Africa 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.”