Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa)

The African Academy of Sciences is taking over the management of the H3Africa scheme, a major research programme that studies the genetics and health of African populations, with funding from Wellcome. This matters because most large-scale genomic research has historically focused on people of European descent, leaving a significant gap in our understanding of how genetic variation affects health and disease in African populations. Africa contains the greatest human genetic diversity on the planet, yet its populations remain severely underrepresented in biomedical research. Without this programme, researchers lack the data and infrastructure needed to understand why certain diseases affect African populations differently, or why some drugs work differently in African patients. If the scheme succeeds, it will build a lasting research infrastructure across the continent—laboratories, data-sharing networks, and a trained workforce of African scientists. This could eventually improve medical diagnostics and drug development for diseases that disproportionately affect African populations, such as sickle cell disease, hypertension, and tuberculosis. The programme also strengthens Africa’s ability to conduct its own health research, rather than relying on studies designed elsewhere.