Overview: H3Africa is a consortium that conducts fundamental research into diseases on the African continent. The consortium is also helping to develop infrastructure, resources, training, and ethical guidelines to support a sustainable African research enterprise.

Objectives: The initiative consists of 48 African projects that include population-based genomic studies of common, non-communicable disorders such as heart and renal disease, as well as communicable diseases such as tuberculosis and trypanosomiasis.

Progress: To date, H3Africa has secured funding for the period of 2011-2021 from the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the African Academy of Sciences, and the Wellcome Trust. Numerous training programs have been launched to educate participants on topics ranging from Python programming, to best practices in molecular biology, to bioinformatics. The research conducted by consortium members has provided, inter alia, critical insight into the risk factors for stroke in West Africa, antimicrobial resistance in pneumococci, drug sensitivity in tuberculosis in Ethiopia, and the influence of human breast milk microbiome in South African Women.