Journal
MICROBIOME
Volume 9, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
BMC
DOI: 10.1186/s40168-021-01195-7
Keywords
Microbiome; Next-generation sequencing; Systematic review; 16S rRNA sequencing; Metagenomics; Public health
Categories
Funding
- National Institutes of Health Common Fund [U41HG006941]
- Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)
- L'Oreal UNESCO For Women in Science Fellowship
- Organisation of Women in Science for the developing world (OWSD) PhD Fellowship
- Margaret McNamara Education
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There are significant gaps in microbiome research in Africa, especially those focusing on diseases of public health importance. Local leadership, capacity building, intra-continental collaboration, and national government investment are needed in microbiome research within Africa.
Background: The role of the human microbiome in health and disease is an emerging and important area of research; however, there is a concern that African populations are under-represented in human microbiome studies. We, therefore, conducted a systematic survey of African human microbiome studies to provide an overview and identify research gaps. Our secondary objectives were: (i) to determine the number of peer-reviewed publications; (ii) to identify the extent to which the researches focused on diseases identified by the World Health Organization [WHO] State of Health in the African Region Report as being the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in 2018; (iii) to describe the extent and pattern of collaborations between researchers in Africa and the rest of the world; and (iv) to identify leadership and funders of the studies. Methodology: We systematically searched Medline via PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, Academic Search Premier, Africa-Wide Information through EBSCOhost, and Web of Science from inception through to 1st April 2020. We included studies that characterized samples from African populations using next-generation sequencing approaches. Two reviewers independently conducted the literature search, title and abstract, and full-text screening, as well as data extraction. Results: We included 168 studies out of 5515 records retrieved. Most studies were published in PLoS One (13%; 22/ 168), and samples were collected from 33 of the 54 African countries. The country where most studies were conducted was South Africa (27/168), followed by Kenya (23/168) and Uganda (18/168). 26.8% (45/168) focused on diseases of significant public health concern in Africa. Collaboration between scientists from the United States of America and Africa was most common (96/168). The first and/or last authors of 79.8% of studies were not affiliated with institutions in Africa. Major funders were the United States of America National Institutes of Health (45.2%; 76/ 168), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (17.8%; 30/168), and the European Union (11.9%; 20/168). Conclusions: There are significant gaps in microbiome research in Africa, especially those focusing on diseases of public health importance. There is a need for local leadership, capacity building, intra-continental collaboration, and national government investment in microbiome research within Africa.
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