"As a group of African bioethics and data-science researchers with expertise in bioinformatics, genomics and decolonization of health research, we are well aware of these challenges in African data science. Consider the H3Africa initiative, which between 2010 and 2022 ran 51 projects aiming to improve health in Africa, funded by the US National Institutes of Health and the UK biomedical funder Wellcome."
"Many Africa-based researchers seem to prefer sharing data informally with trusted peers or as part of projects or collaborations on grant applications, rather than securing them formally from a repository -. For example, data from 23,421 biological samples collected across 16 H3Africa studies can be accessed through requests to a data and biospecimen access committee. But, according to one study, the committee received just 28 data-access requests between"
Extensive biomedical data have been collected across Africa, including demographic, health and environmental data and genomic information from diverse populations. H3Africa ran 51 projects from 2010 to 2022, generating nearly 1,000 whole-genome sequences and trait information from at least 50 ethnolinguistic groups. Logistical, cost and infrastructure challenges caused delays in data collection and prevented some groups from depositing data before funding expired. Many Africa-based researchers prefer informal data sharing with trusted peers or collaborators rather than formal repository deposition. Low formal access requests for deposited H3Africa samples indicate barriers that risk wasting the datasets' potential unless accessibility improves.
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