Page 18 - 2019-2020 FINAL RESEARCH REPORT (flip)

WEST AFRICAN GENETIC
MEDICINE CENTRE

VISION

Established in 2019, the West African Research is being conducted in six
Genetic Medicine Centre (WAGMC) is an patient-enrolling sites in Ghana (Accra
African Centre of Excellence (ACE) for and Kumasi), Nigeria (Abuja, Kano and
Higher Education charged to train the first Lagos) and Tanzania (Dar es Salaam).
cohort of Genetic Counsellors and Medcal Towards this end, a webinar series has
Genetics Scientists in West Africa. been launched to allow SickleGenAfrica
investigators to easily share information
Central to WAGMC’s mandate is the and new findings on their work with
enquiry into Human Genetic Disorders and colleagues across the multinational sites.
related blood diseases such as Sickle Cell
Disease (SCD) which is most common in The centre was recently awarded a $6.8
West Africa.Ultimately,the centre employs million grant by the World Bank to
high-level teaching and research address a major development challenge
techniques to conduct cutting-edge of genetic disorders in West Africa.
research into genomics.

SickleGenAfrica constitutes the flagship
sickle cell disease research project of
WAGMC. It is a 5-Year collaborative U54
project funded by the National Institutes
of Health (NIH) of the USA, which is
focused on the genetics of the body’s
natural defences against haemolysis in
individuals who have sickle cell disease
(SCD).

The overall research goals are to:
Conduct three inter-related but
independent genomics research projects,

Establish scientific cores in molecular
haematology and genomics in Ghana,

Establish a community-engaged core to
promote local community-participation in
genomics research.

For more information, kindly visit: https://wagmc.org/

18 UG Research Report 2019/2020