{"id":4458,"date":"2018-10-16T09:10:24","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T09:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.h3africa.org\/?page_id=4458"},"modified":"2020-05-28T14:08:27","modified_gmt":"2020-05-28T14:08:27","slug":"awi-gen-2-genomic-and-environmental-risk-factors-for-cardiometabolic-disease-in-africans","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/h3africa.org\/index.php\/awi-gen-2-genomic-and-environmental-risk-factors-for-cardiometabolic-disease-in-africans\/","title":{"rendered":"AWI-GEN 2: Genomic and Environmental Risk Factors for Cardiometabolic Disease in Africans"},"content":{"rendered":"

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H3Africa Collaborative Centers<\/a><\/em><\/h6>\n

AWI-Gen 2: Genomic and Environmental Risk Factors for Cardiometabolic Disease in Africans<\/h3>\n
\n

The Goal<\/h3>\n

AWI-Gen is working to understand how genes, environment, and lifestyle affect cardiovascular and metabolic health across Africa and to uncover new insights that could help to improve the health of Africans.<\/p>\n

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Principal Investigator:<\/h4>
\"ramsay_sml\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>

Prof Michele Ramsay<\/a><\/h4>

University of Witwatersrand<\/p>

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The Problem<\/h3>\n

Due to advances in the field of genetics and genomics, researchers now have the ability to understand how one\u2019s DNA and their environment can play a role in their susceptibility to obesity, hypertension, and diabetes \u2013 but only in western populations. African populations have been routinely omitted from this fundamental research, keeping them from accessing basic public health strategies.<\/p>\n

Project Strategy<\/strong><\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Survey 12,000 participants across the continent for information regarding lifestyle, environment, and medical history.<\/li>\n
  2. Collect blood and urine samples from participants to measure genomic and metabolic health factors.<\/li>\n
  3. Use this information to explore genetic contributions and gene-by-environment interactions on susceptibility for traits like obesity, hypertension and diabetes.<\/li>\n
  4. Use insights to support development of better prevention and treatment strategies and to inform public policy.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Outcomes to Date<\/h3>\n

    So far, AWI-Gen has found that obesity disproportionately affects women in southern and eastern Africa and is linked to increased prevalence of diabetes. There is regional variation in the prevalence of hypertension, with a lack of awareness of high blood pressure,. Although some are aware of their status and on medication, their blood pressure remains poorly controlled. Genetic studies have shown that people from the same region and ethnicity tend to cluster together, and that there are differences between the people from western, eastern and southern Africa. Geographic isolation and local adaption to their environments may in part account for these differences.<\/p>\n

    Project Sites<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/th>\n\n

    A. South Africa, WITS Health Consortium, University of the Witwatersrand<\/p>\n

    B. South Africa, University of Limpopo<\/p>\n

    C. Ghana, Navrongo Health Research Center<\/p>\n

    D. Burkina Faso, Clinical Research Center of Nanoro<\/p>\n

    E. Kenya, African Population and Health Research Center<\/p>\n<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<\/table>\n

    Non-African Collaborators
    \nUSA: Harvard University, Stanford University, University of Colorado
    \nUK: University of Bristol, University of Leicester & Wellcome Trust Sanger Institut<\/p>\n

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    AWI-Gen is the Africa Wits-INDEPTH partnership for Genomic Studies, an NIH funded and university supported Collaborative Center of the Human Heredity and Health in Africa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[33,78,32],"class_list":["post-4458","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-projects","tag-collaborative-centers","tag-nih-projects-collaborative-centers","tag-wellcome-trust-projects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/h3africa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/h3africa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/h3africa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/h3africa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/h3africa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4458"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/h3africa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7550,"href":"https:\/\/h3africa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4458\/revisions\/7550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/h3africa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/h3africa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/h3africa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}