Why Africa urgently needs its own genetic library

It was just a “crazy idea” to start with, says Ambroise Wonkam, professor of medical genetics at Cape Town university in South Africa.

He is talking about his vision of creating a huge library of genetic information about the population of Africa, outlined in the science journal Nature, earlier this year.

The Three Million African Genomes (3MAG) project emerged from his work on how genetic mutations among Africans contribute to conditions like sickle-cell disease and hearing impairments.