Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 May 16;20(5):e0309268.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0309268. eCollection 2025.

Genome-wide association studies on malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review

Morine Akoth  1 , John Odhiambo  1 , Bernard Omolo  1   2   3
Affiliations

Genome-wide association studies on malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review

Morine Akoth et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Malaria remains one of the leading causes of death in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The scoping review mapped evidence in research on existing studies on malaria genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in SSA.

Methods: A scoping review was conducted to map existing studies in genome-wide association on malaria in SSA, with a review period between 1st January 2000 and 31st December 2024. The searches were made with the last search done in January 2025. The extracted data were analyzed using R software and SRplot. Relevant studies were identified through electronic searching of Google Scholar, Pubmed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases. Two independent reviewers followed the inclusion-exclusion criteria to extract relevant studies. Data from the studies were collected and synthesized using Excel and Zotero software.

Results: We identified 89 studies for inclusion. Most of these studies (n = 42, [Formula: see text]) used a case-control study design, while the rest used cross-sectional, cohort, longitudinal, family-based, and experimental study designs. These studies were conducted between 2000 and 2024, with a noticeable increase in publications from 2012. Most studies were carried out in Kenya (n = 23), Gambia (n = 18), Cameroon (n = 15), and Tanzania (n = 9), primarily exploring genetic variants associated with malaria susceptibility, resistance, and severity.

Conclusion: Many case-control studies in Kenya and Gambia reported genetic variants in malaria susceptibility, resistance, and severity. GWAS on malaria is scarce in SSA, and even fewer studies are model-based. Consequently, there is a pressing need for more genome-wide research on malaria in SSA.

Keywords: Genome-wide association studies; Sub-Saharan Africa scoping review.; malaria.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) on malaria GWAS in SSA.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Different study designs used in malaria GWAS.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Different research areas in malaria GWAS in SSA.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Number of articles in malaria GWAS in SSA published between 2000 and 2024.
Fig 5
Fig 5. SSA countries conducting GWAS in malaria mapped with publications.
The map was created using public domain data from Natural Earth (https://www.naturalearthdata.com/).
Fig 6
Fig 6. Polygon areas proportional to the number of studies conducted in SSA in different regions of Western Africa, Eastern Africa, Southern Africa, and Central Africa.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. Genome-wide association study of 14,000 cases of seven common diseases and 3,000 shared controls. Nature. 2007;447(7145):661–78. doi: 10.1038/nature05911 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kwiatkowski DP. How malaria has affected the human genome and what human genetics can teach us about malaria. Am J Hum Genet. 2005;77(2):171–92. doi: 10.1086/432519 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hedrick PW. Resistance to malaria in humans: the impact of strong, recent selection. Malar J. 2012;11:349. doi: 10.1186/1475-2875-11-349 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Snow RW, Guerra CA, Noor AM, Myint HY, Hay SI. The global distribution of clinical episodes of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Nature. 2005;434(7030):214–7. doi: 10.1038/nature03342 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bhatt S, Weiss DJ, Cameron E, Bisanzio D, Mappin B, Dalrymple U, et al.. The effect of malaria control on Plasmodium falciparum in Africa between 2000 and 2015. Nature. 2015;526(7572):207–11. doi: 10.1038/nature15535 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types