The African Society for Human Genetics will help to organise researchers in Africa. The researchers that receive funding will be able to establish or enhance the local research facilities in their home country, enabling them to identify genetic changes that contribute to the disease or disorder that they are studying, using genome-wide scanning and sequencing technology.
H3Africa has been awarded up to $38 million, over the next five years from a partnership between the Wellcome Trust (at least $12 million) and the NIH ($5 million a year and £750,000 this year to kick-start the project).
“H3Africa will build the capacity for African researchers to study African populations to solve African problems and will create strong collaborations between African researchers and those in Europe, the United States, and other parts of the world.” Said Charles N. Rotimi, Ph.D., M.P.H., President of the African Society and Director of the Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health at the National Human Genome Research Institute in the USA.
