The Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) consortium facilitates fundamental research into diseases on the African continent while also developing infrastructure, resources, training, and ethical guidelines to support a sustainable African research enterprise – led by African scientists, for the African people. Read more background on the initiative here.
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The H3Africa Consortium has identified community engagement (CE) as one of the key issues that needs to be addressed to support the successful implementation of genomic studies in Africa. Reasons for this included the recognition that genomic studies have implications not just for the individuals participating in these projects but also for their families and their wider communities, and the novelty of genomic research in the African context. Ethics and CE activities are conducted at three levels within the consortium as indicated in the diagram below.
Background on H3Africa
The initiative consists of 51 African projects that include population-based genomic studies of common, non-communicable disorders such as heart and renal disease, as well as communicable diseases such as tuberculosis. These studies are led by African scientists and use genetic, clinical, and epidemiologic methods to identify hereditary and environmental contributions to health and disease. To establish a foundation for African scientists to continue this essential work into the future work, the consortium also supports many crucial capacity building elements, such as: ethical, legal, and social implications research; training and capacity building for bioinformatics; capacity for biobanking; and coordination and networking.
H3Africa is supported by US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and AAS/Wellcome. Research topics include trypanosomiasis, diabetes, HIV, tuberculosis, cardiometabolic disease, schizophrenia, cervical cancer and rheumatic heart disease. Projects typically involve the collection of human biological materials such as blood and urine. These collections will be analysed for the primary research projects and most will also store data and DNA samples in repositories for future research purposes.
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Find out more about the H3Africa consortium HERE
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