Efforts to close the information gap: H3Africa
The Human, Hereditary and Health in Africa initiative (H3Africa) aims to build capacity and resources that enable African scientists to perform globally competitive genomic research on the African continent.
The initiative consists of 51 African projects that include population-based genomic studies of common diseases, infectious diseases and rare disorders. These studies are led by African scientists and use genetic, clinical, and epidemiologic information and methods to identify inherited and environmental contributions to health and disease.
H3Africa has produced evidence of practical action to close the genomic information gap that exists and practical steps towards enabling genomic medicine for all global populations. It has been an excellent springboard from which to address genomic inequalities and improve health on the continent (Table 1).
| Promotion of genomics through advocacy | H3Africa has engaged a broad number of science policymakers and funders over the last decade. In Africa, it has engaged organisations like the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) and the Africa CDC. Internationally, it has engaged the Heads of International Research Organizations (HIROs) through presentations at their meetings and participation in working groups arising from those discussions. The result is a call to action to develop a proposal for the implementation of genomic medicine for health in Africa. H3Africa members participated in the development of a Global Governance Framework for Human Genome Editing and they recently participated in the United Nations Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the sustainable development goals. |
| Implementation of genomic methodologies | H3Africa researchers have contributed to developing national and international health policies for instance for conditions such as Rheumatic Heart Disease and HIV. They have implemented a newborn screening programme and a genetic counselling programme in Ghana, and are strongly advocating for research into genome editing for Sickle Cell Disease. |
| Collaboration among entities engaged in genomics | H3Africa has established itself as a continental collaborative hub with the knowledge, skills, and resources to influence and advocate for the benefits of genomics in Africa and on the global stage. Cross-consortium efforts have led to key advances towards implementation, including a pioneering study on African genetic diversity that demonstrated the vast and untapped discovery potential of diversifying genomics research. This resource has already contributed to the development of the Infinium™ H3Africa Consortium genotyping array, a tool that is better suited to genomics studies in African populations than other commercially available products. |
| Attention to the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSIs) raised by genomics | H3Africa has advanced a forward-looking ELSI of genomics research agenda with an evolving lens influenced by the communities that participate in their research, local research ethics committees, and the broader genomics community. H3Africa’s data and biospecimens release policy has set the standard for how to consider issues of equity in relation to African genomic data. It has developed a model framework for the governance of African genomics research and biobanking and has fostered important empirical ethics research on issues such as informed consent, feedback on individual findings, and stigma |
Table 1. Four ways in which H3Africa has accelerated access to genomics for global health.
For more information about H3Africa, watch this mini-documentary:
This is an additional video, hosted on YouTube.
Do you know other projects and initiatives to improve regional or national genetic datasets? Share with us in the comments.
Interpreting Genomic Variation: Overcoming Challenges in Diverse Populations
Interpreting Genomic Variation: Overcoming Challenges in Diverse Populations
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