KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) has announced a new research partnership with Roche’s African Genomics Program (AGP) to study the genetic causes of high blood pressure in Kenya and The Gambia.
NAIROBI, KENYA The partnership aims to find new warning signs (biomarkers) in the body that explain why high blood pressure and related heart, kidney, and metabolic conditions develop differently in African populations, opening the door to treatments better suited to these communities.
Heart, kidney, and metabolic diseases are a growing health challenge across Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa has one of the highest rates of high blood pressure in the world, a condition linked to almost 700,000 deaths in the region in 2019 alone, double the number from 1990. In this region, high blood pressure tends to start earlier in life, is more severe, and is harder to control, leading to more complications such as heart failure, stroke, and kidney disease than in other parts of the world. Yet African
populations remain significantly underrepresented in the studies that shape our understanding of human health and disease.
Understanding what drives this disease locally is a critical scientific priority. Through this partnership, KWTRP and Roche’s African Genomics Program will fully sequence the genetic code of around 1,200 samples collected through KWTRP’s ongoing “Improving Hypertension Control in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa” (IHCoR) study. Reading someone’s
complete genetic code allows researchers to map the small variations that may contribute to disease, helping uncover the exact genetic drivers of high blood pressure in the region and paving the way for new warning signs and targeted treatments.
“High blood pressure is a silent epidemic in Africa, increasingly affecting younger people and severely impacting communities across the continent,” said Dr. Anthony Etyang, Consultant Physician, Head of Epidemiology and Demography at KWTRP, and lead researcher on the study. “For too long, our understanding of heart and metabolic diseases has relied on data from outside the continent. By combining our clinical
knowledge from the IHCoR study with advanced genetic sequencing, we can identify new warning signs, understand how the disease shows up here specifically, and build the local scientific skills needed to drive future discoveries.“
Alongside the genetic sequencing of 1,200 samples and reflecting both organisations’ commitment to building scientific capacity in Africa, the partnership includes dedicated funding to train two PhD students and one postdoctoral researcher, plus hands-on technical support from Roche’s data scientists.
The partnership will also create a secure data network linking research sites in Kenya and The Gambia, so researchers can safely analyse the data generated. The data itself
will stay hosted in Africa, managed by KWTRP while remaining available for shared research with scientists across Africa and around the world.
“Understanding what drives heart, kidney, and metabolic diseases in African populations is essential to developing better, more effective healthcare solutions globally,” said Lisa Rooney Slater, Head of the African Genomics Program at Roche. “We are proud to partner with KEMRI and look forward to the discoveries this partnership will produce.“
This partnership addresses a major gap in global medical research: although Africa holds the greatest genetic diversity in the world, less than 3% of global genetic datasets come from people of recent African descent. By building vital genetic datasets and investing in African scientific talent and infrastructure, KWTRP and Roche’s African Genomics Program are taking meaningful steps to close this gap and bring precision medicine treatment tailored to a person’s biology — closer to everyone.
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Media Contact details:
Cynthia Mauncho- Cmauncho@kemri-wellcome.org | 0720 253140
Roselyne Namayi – Rnamayi@kemri-wellcome.org |0720319656
The KEMRI/Wellcome Trust Research Programme
The KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, a partnership between the Kenya Medical Research Institute, Wellcome and the University of Oxford, conducts worldclass, multidisciplinary research to improve human health in Africa. Based in Kenya and Uganda, the programme addresses key health challenges through research on vaccines, pathogens, clinical care, population health and health systems. It also builds African research capacity and engages local communities, the public and policymakers to ensure its work informs meaningful and ethical health interventions. Find out more at http://kemri-wellcome.org
About Roche’s African Genomics Program
The African Genomics Program is Roche’s bold commitment to accelerating African genomic research with the aim of reducing global health inequities. The program brings together an ambitious collaboration of African researchers, governments, non-profit organisations, multilateral bodies, and the private sector — all dedicated to changing how African genomic data is collected and shared, enabling scientific discovery and improving health for all patients.
For more information, please visit https://www.roche.com/stories/african-genomicsprogram
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