The Nigerian Bioinformatics and Genomics Network (NBGN): a collaborative platform to advance bioinformatics and genomics in Nigeria

Perceptions of Nigerian medical students regarding their preparedness for precision medicine: a cross-sectional survey in Lagos, Nigeria

BACKGROUND

Advances in precision medicine in Nigeria suggest improving genomics education and competency among healthcare practitioners to facilitate clinical translation. Due to the scarcity of research in this area, this study aimed to assess Nigerian medical students' perceptions about their preparedness to integrate precision medicine into their future clinical practice.

METHODS

This was an institution-based cross-sectional study of medicine and surgery students in their clinical years attending the two fully accredited colleges of medicine in Lagos, Nigeria, between April and October 2022 using an adapted tool administered via Google Forms. The survey assessed their awareness, perceptions about knowledge, ability, and attitudes toward precision medicine, ethical concerns, and perceptions about their education in precision medicine. Multivariate linear regression models were used to assess factors associated with students' perceptions of their knowledge, ability, and attitudes.

RESULTS

A total of 300 students completed the questionnaires with a response rate of 40%. Awareness of genomic medicine terminology was high (92.0%). Responses to knowledge and ability questions revealed notable gaps, however, respondents had positive attitude scores overall. Higher medical school year was independently associated with lower knowledge (ptrend = 0.003) and ability (ptrend = 0.005) scores, and knowledge score was independently associated with a higher ability score (β: 0.76 95%CI: 0.67, 0.84; p < 0.001). Attitude scores significantly increased with increasing medical school year (ptrend = 0.04). The respondents mostly indicated concerns about government and corporate bodies' misuse of genomic data (35.7%) and the widening of socioeconomic disparities (34.0%). Although 65.0% of the respondents thought it important to learn about precision medicine, only 11.3% felt that their education had adequately prepared them for precision medicine, knew who to ask questions regarding genomic testing (10.7%), and felt their professors had encouraged the use of precision medicine (10.3%).

CONCLUSION

Despite high awareness of precision medicine terminology and overall positive attitudes, our findings highlight gaps in knowledge and ability to integrate genomics into the care of patients and a need to improve precision medicine education among Nigerian medical students.

Personalizing medicine in Africa: current state, progress and challenges

Personalized medicine has been identified as a powerful tool for addressing the myriad of health issues facing different health systems globally. Although recent studies have expanded our understanding of how different factors such as genetics and the environment play significant roles in affecting the health of individuals, there are still several other issues affecting their translation into personalizing health interventions globally. Since African populations have demonstrated huge genetic diversity, there is a significant need to apply the concepts of personalized medicine to overcome various African-specific health challenges. Thus, we review the current state, progress, and challenges facing the adoption of personalized medicine in Africa with a view to providing insights to critical stakeholders on the right approach to deploy.

Integrating computational skills in undergraduate Microbiology curricula in developing countries

The employability of young graduates has gained increasing significance in the labour market of the 21st century. Universities turn out millions of graduates annually, but at the same time, employers highlight their lack of the requisite skills for sustainable employment. We live today in a world of data, and therefore courses that feature numerical and computational tools to gather and analyse data are to be sourced for and integrated into life sciences' curricula as they provide a number of benefits for both the students and faculty members that are engaged in teaching the courses. The lack of this teaching in undergraduate Microbiology curricula is devastating and leaves a knowledge gap in the graduates that are turned out. This results in an inability of the emerging graduates to compete favourably with their counterparts from other parts of the world. There is a necessity on the part of life science educators to adapt their teaching strategies to best support students' curricula that prepare them for careers in science. Bioinformatics, Statistics and Programming are key computational skills to embrace by life scientists and the need for training beginning at undergraduate level cannot be overemphasized. This article reviews the need to integrate computational skills in undergraduate Microbiology curricula in developing countries with emphasis on Nigeria.

Risk communication during health emergencies in Nigeria: What are its challenges?

Although globalization has been advantageous in facilitating the free movement of people, goods, and services, the ease of movement of cross-border pathogens has increased the risk of international public health emergencies in recent years. Risk communication is an integral part of every country's response during public health emergencies such as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. To effectively increase adherence to guidelines during health emergencies, it is essential to understand the impact of social, cultural, political, and environmental factors on people's behaviours and lifestyles in any given context, as well as how these factors influence people's perception of risks. During the recent response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria, the need to comprehend these influences was pronounced, and these influences ultimately shaped risk communication in Nigeria. We have identified risk communication challenges in Nigeria based on sociocultural diversity, the complexity of the health system, the impact of social media on communications, and other contextual factors surrounding multisectoral partnerships. To achieve global health security, these challenges must be addressed in resourceconstrained countries like Nigeria. In this paper, we emphasize the need to contextualize risk communication strategies in order to improve their effectiveness during health emergencies. In addition, we urge increased country commitment to a multi-hazard and multisectoral effort, deliberate investment in subnational risk communication systems, and investments in capacity building for risk communication activities.

East Africa International Center of Excellence for Malaria Research: Summary of Key Research Findings

The Program for Resistance, Immunology, Surveillance, and Modeling of Malaria (PRISM) has been conducting malaria research in Uganda since 2010 to improve the understanding of the disease and measure the impact of population-level control interventions in the country. Here, we will summarize key research findings from a series of studies addressing routine health facility-based surveillance, comprehensive cohort studies, studies of the molecular epidemiology, and transmission of malaria, evaluation of antimalarial drug efficacy, and resistance across the country, and assessments of insecticide resistance. Among our key findings are the following. First, we found that in historically high transmission areas of Uganda, a combination of universal distribution of long-lasting insecticidal-treated nets (LLINs) and sustained indoor residual spraying (IRS) of insecticides lowered the malaria burden greatly, but marked resurgences occurred if IRS was discontinued. Second, submicroscopic infections are common and key drivers of malaria transmission, especially in school-age children (5-15 years). Third, markers of drug resistance have changed over time, with new concerning emergence of markers predicting resistance to artemisinin antimalarials. Fourth, insecticide resistance monitoring has demonstrated high levels of resistance to pyrethroids, appreciable impact of the synergist piperonyl butoxide to pyrethroid susceptibility, emerging resistance to carbamates, and complete susceptibility of malaria vectors to organophosphates, which could have important implications for vector control interventions. Overall, PRISM has yielded a wealth of information informing researchers and policy-makers on the malaria burden and opportunities for improved malaria control and eventual elimination in Uganda. Continued studies concerning all the types of surveillance discussed above are ongoing.