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Multicenter Study
. 2017 Jun;12(2):173-176.
doi: 10.1016/j.gheart.2017.07.001.

Geography of Genetics and Genomics Research Funding in Africa

Eric Coles  1 , George A Mensah  2
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Geography of Genetics and Genomics Research Funding in Africa

Eric Coles et al. Glob Heart. 2017 Jun.

Abstract

An estimated U.S. $300 billion is spent each year on medical research. What proportion of this goes to genomics and genetics research in Africa? Until recently, this type of question was nearly impossible to answer. The World RePORT database, sponsored by the Heads of International Research Organizations (HIRO) and managed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), provides a first attempt at answering questions on the distribution of research funding by geography and research organization. In this journal issue on the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa), we explore the geography of biomedical research funding in the genomics field with special emphasis on Africa. Using World RePORT, we identified 185 research projects in genetics and genomics in Africa in 2015 with total funding exceeding U.S. $216 million. These numbers are likely incomplete and more efforts at collating data from funder organizations is needed. A comprehensive snapshot of funders' portfolios will be invaluable to research investigators and policy makers in the identification of research gaps and analysis of allocation priorities to facilitate evidence-based decision-making for public-research-funding organizations.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Disclosure

None

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Map output from World RePORT which shows the number of research organizations by country in fiscal year 2015. See appendix for full list by country
Map output from World RePORT showing the number of research organizations in each labeled country that received funding for genetics or genomics research in fiscal year 2015. A complete list of research organizations by country is provided in the appendix.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of genomics and genetics research funding in Africa by major organizations. Two research projects from the Swedish Research Council (SRC) and two from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) had missing budget data and were excluded from the funder analysis. The proportion of funding for genetics and genomics research in Africa contributed by major research funders. Two research projects from the Swedish Research Council (SRC) and two from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) had missing budget data and were excluded from the funder analysis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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