“…Most of the funding for African research comes from outside Africa, such as from the National Institutes of Health, Wellcome Trust and the European Union-Africa partnerships. [7,8] The African Union has previously committed 1% of its GDP to research, while local governments only spend a fraction of that on health research. [9] We ourselves have secured funding from the HIV Trust (UK) and SA's National Research Foundation (NRF).…”
“…Most of the funding for African research comes from outside Africa, such as from the National Institutes of Health, Wellcome Trust and the European Union-Africa partnerships. [7,8] The African Union has previously committed 1% of its GDP to research, while local governments only spend a fraction of that on health research. [9] We ourselves have secured funding from the HIV Trust (UK) and SA's National Research Foundation (NRF).…”
“…This study is funded by the National Institutes of Health as part of the Human Heredity and Health in Africa Consortium (H3Africa) [17,18]. AWI-Gen’s main purpose is to further understand the prevalence of cardiometabolic disease (CMD), associated risk factors, regional burden, and to explore gene–gene and gene–environment interactions that contribute to disease risk.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…AWI-Gen deliberately examines older adults aged between 40–60 years, a period during which CMD is most likely to present, and therefore enhances its ability to discover associations between CMD outcomes and risk factors, including genetic susceptibility. In line with the H3Africa mandate, there is a focus on assessing genomic associations with common diseases among Africans [17]. 10.1080/16549716.2018.1507133-F0001Figure 1.Conceptual framework for Phase 1 of the AWI-Gen study.…”
There is an alarming tide of cardiovascular and metabolic disease (CMD) sweeping across Africa. This may be a result of an increasingly urbanized lifestyle characterized by the growing consumption of processed and calorie-dense food, combined with physical inactivity and more sedentary behaviour. While the link between lifestyle and public health has been extensively studied in Caucasian and African American populations, few studies have been conducted in Africa. This paper describes the detailed methods for Phase 1 of the AWI-Gen study that were used to capture phenotype data and assess the associated risk factors and end points for CMD in persons over the age of 40 years in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We developed a population-based cross-sectional study of disease burden and phenotype in Africans, across six centres in SSA. These centres are in West Africa (Nanoro, Burkina Faso, and Navrongo, Ghana), in East Africa (Nairobi, Kenya) and in South Africa (Agincourt, Dikgale and Soweto). A total of 10,702 individuals between the ages of 40 and 60 years were recruited into the study across the six centres, plus an additional 1021 participants over the age of 60 years from the Agincourt centre. We collected socio-demographic, anthropometric, medical history, diet, physical activity, fat distribution and alcohol/tobacco consumption data from participants. Blood samples were collected for disease-related biomarker assays, and genomic DNA extraction for genome-wide association studies. Urine samples were collected to assess kidney function. The study provides base-line data for the development of a series of cohorts with a second wave of data collection in Phase 2 of the study. These data will provide valuable insights into the genetic and environmental influences on CMD on the African continent.
“…37 Current funding is increasing emphasis on inclusion of non-European populations in ongoing genetic analysis, including the Human Heredity and Health in Africa Initiative, jointly funded by National Institutes of Health and the Wellcome Trust. 44 Once genetic markers have been identified, thought must be given to the optimal strategy for incorporating multiple loci into CVD risk prediction because currently identified SNPs have small effect sizes (odds ratios in the range of ≤1.2). Using a single SNP for prediction is ineffective, as demonstrated by analysis of the 9p21.3 locus.…”
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
