$38 million project targets African populations for new insights into genes, environment and health

An ambitious $38 million partnership will study thousands of people in Africa to discover how genes and the environment interact in the development of cancer, heart disease, malaria and other diseases.

The Human Heredity and Health in Africa Project (H3 Africa), established by the Wellcome Trust — a UKCDS member — 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.

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.

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.

Read the full article at www.wellcome.ac.uk