African genomics research is growing: what countries are doing to connect genetic data and healthcare

Much of what scientists know about how genetic differences affect health comes from studying populations outside Africa.

This matters because genetic information is increasingly being used to understand disease, interpret genetic tests and, in some cases, guide treatment .

Africa has the greatest human genetic diversity in the world, yet African populations remain poorly represented in global genomic research .

A genome is the complete set of DNA carried by a person.

Only about 0.15% of participants in genome-wide association studies, which look for links between genetic differences and disease, are from Africa .

When most of the evidence comes from populations elsewhere, some findings can be harder to interpret for African patients.

For example, researchers found that some genetic changes previously reported as causing an inherited heart condition in people of African ancestry were actually harmless.

Those errors were easier to detect once more genetic information from people of African ancestry became available.

A genetic test is not useful simply because it can read a person’s DNA.

Doctors also need reliable information to understand what a genetic change means.

Better information from African populations could, over time, help provide clearer diagnoses for some inherited conditions, give families better information about diseases that run through generations and improve our understanding of why people respond differently to some medicines.

In a recent paper , my colleagues and I examined national genome projects across Africa and how they could help address this gap.

I approach this question as a molecular geneticist at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Tanzania.

My co-authors bring expertise in genetics, genomics and population health from Egypt, Tunisia, Senegal, Kenya and South Africa.