African genomics studies get support from NIH

More than $300,000 will go toward genomic research by African investigators carried out in Africa, according to an announcement Aug. 3 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Two grants will fund three years of study each in an NIH program called Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa). The grants are categorized under the Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) division of H3Africa and were made possible by the NIH Common Fund and the British Wellcome Trust. This program provided approximately $78 million to date for African research.  

“These grants will help us begin to get a better sense of what people in two different African countries understand about genomics concepts,” said H3Africa program director Ebony Madden, PhD, an epidemiologist in the Division of Genomic Medicine at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of NIH, in an official NIH statement. “We hope that what we learn from this work will lead to more effective informed consent discussions with potential research participants and to new culturally appropriate educational strategies about genomics.”

The projects funded by the two current awards include research to evaluate understanding of the relationships between genes and the environment in Ethiopia at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, with principal investigator Getnet Tadele, PhD. Another study being conducted at the Institute of Human Virology in Nigeria with principal investigator Clement Adebayo Adebamowo, MD, focuses on genomics in Nigerian culture and language and developing a patient consent form to involve and educate Nigerians about a genetic diabetes study under way.

“Both studies will increase our knowledge of how to tailor informed consents and educational materials based on linguistic and cultural needs so that genomic concepts are better understood,” said Madden. “Many times, even though we try to write on a young elementary school student level, we are still using terms that certain cultures may not be able to relate to. These studies will teach us how to truly inform participants and/or educate the public about genetic concepts that they may only have a vague idea about.”