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Oladayo AM, Odukoya O, Sule V, Molobe I, Busch T, Akodu B, Adeyemo WL, Gowans LJJ, Eshete M, Alade A, Awotoye W, Adeyemo AA, Mossey PA, Prince AER, Murray JC, Butali A. Perceptions and beliefs of community gatekeepers about genomic risk information in African cleft research. BMC Public Health 2024; 24:507. [PMID: 38365612 PMCID: PMC10873930 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-024-17987-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2023] [Accepted: 02/05/2024] [Indexed: 02/18/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND A fundamental ethical issue in African genomics research is how socio-cultural factors impact perspectives, acceptance, and utility of genomic information, especially in stigmatizing conditions like orofacial clefts (OFCs). Previous research has shown that gatekeepers (e.g., religious, political, family or community leaders) wield considerable influence on the decision-making capabilities of their members, including health issues. Thus, their perspectives can inform the design of engagement strategies and increase exposure to the benefits of genomics testing/research. This is especially important for Africans underrepresented in genomic research. Our study aims to investigate the perspectives of gatekeepers concerning genomic risk information (GRI) in the presence of OFCs in a sub-Saharan African cohort. METHODS Twenty-five focus group discussions (FGDs) consisting of 214 gatekeepers (religious, community, ethnic leaders, and traditional birth attendants) in Lagos, Nigeria, explored the opinions of participants on genomic risk information (GRI), OFC experience, and the possibility of involvement in collaborative decision-making in Lagos, Nigeria. Transcripts generated from audio recordings were coded and analyzed in NVivo using thematic analysis. RESULTS Three main themes-knowledge, beliefs, and willingness to act-emerged from exploring the perspective of gatekeepers about GRI in this group. We observed mixed opinions regarding the acceptance of GRI. Many participants believed their role is to guide and support members when they receive results; this is based on the level of trust their members have in them. However, participants felt they would need to be trained by medical experts to do this. Also, religious and cultural beliefs were crucial to determining participants' understanding of OFCs and the acceptance and utilization of GRI. CONCLUSIONS Incorporating cultural sensitivity into public engagement could help develop appropriate strategies to manage conflicting ideologies surrounding genomic information in African communities. This will allow for more widespread access to the advances in genomics research in underrepresented populations. We also recommend a synergistic relationship between community health specialists/scientists, and community leaders, including spiritual providers to better understand and utilize GRI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abimbola M Oladayo
- Department of Oral Pathology, Radiology and Medicine, College of Dentistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
- Iowa Institute of Oral Health Research, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
| | - Oluwakemi Odukoya
- Department of Community Health and Primary Care, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
| | - Veronica Sule
- Department of Operative Dentistry, College of Dentistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Ikenna Molobe
- Department of Community Health and Primary Care, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
| | - Tamara Busch
- Iowa Institute of Oral Health Research, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Babatunde Akodu
- Department of Community Health and Primary Care, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
| | - Wasiu L Adeyemo
- Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
| | - Lord J J Gowans
- Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
| | - Mekonen Eshete
- School of Medicine, Department of Surgery, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Azeez Alade
- Department of Oral Pathology, Radiology and Medicine, College of Dentistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
- Iowa Institute of Oral Health Research, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Waheed Awotoye
- Department of Oral Pathology, Radiology and Medicine, College of Dentistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
- Iowa Institute of Oral Health Research, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | | | - Peter A Mossey
- Department of Orthodontics, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK
| | | | - Jeffrey C Murray
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Azeez Butali
- Department of Oral Pathology, Radiology and Medicine, College of Dentistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
- Iowa Institute of Oral Health Research, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
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Chaudhry I, Thurtle V, Foday E, Leather AJM, Samai M, Wurie H, Parmar D. Strengthening ethics committees for health-related research in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review. BMJ Open 2022; 12:e062847. [PMID: 36410802 PMCID: PMC9680187 DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-062847] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Health-related research in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has grown over the years. However, concerns have been raised about the state of research ethics committees (RECs). This scoping review examines the literature on RECs for health-related research in SSA and identifies strategies that have been applied to strengthen the RECs. It focuses on three aspects of RECs: regulatory governance and leadership, administrative and financial capacity and technical capacity of members. DESIGN A scoping review of published literature, including grey literature, was conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute approach. DATA SOURCES BioOne, CINAHL, Embase (via Ovid), Education Abstracts, Global Health, Google Scholar, Jstor, OpenEdition (French), Philosopher's Index, PsycINFO, PubMed, Science Citation and Expanded Index (Web of Science), reference lists of included studies and specific grey literature sources. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA We included empirical studies on RECs for health-related research in SSA, covering topics on REC leadership and governance, administrative and financial capacity and the technical capacity of REC members. We included studies published between 01 January 2000 and 18 February 2022 and written in English, French, Portuguese or Swahili. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS Two independent reviewers screened the records. Data were extracted by one reviewer and cross-checked by another. Owing to the heterogeneity of included studies, thematic analysis was used. RESULTS We included 54 studies. The findings show that most RECs in SSA work under significant administrative and financial constraints, with few opportunities for capacity building for committee members. This has an impact on the quality of reviews and the overall performance of RECs. Although most countries have national governance systems for RECs, they lack regulations on accountability, transparency and monitoring of RECs. CONCLUSIONS This review provides a comprehensive overview of the literature on RECs for health-related research in SSA and contributes to our understanding of how RECs can be strengthened.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iqra Chaudhry
- Department of Population Health, School of Life Course and Population Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Val Thurtle
- King's Centre for Global Health and Health Partnerships, School of Life Course and Population Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Edward Foday
- Sierra Leone Ethics and Scientific Review Committee, Directorate of Training and Research, Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Freetown, Sierra Leone
| | - Andrew J M Leather
- King's Centre for Global Health and Health Partnerships, School of Life Course and Population Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Mohamed Samai
- College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences, University of Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone
| | - Haja Wurie
- College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences, University of Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone
| | - Divya Parmar
- Department of Population Health, School of Life Course and Population Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
- King's Centre for Global Health and Health Partnerships, School of Life Course and Population Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
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Baynam GS, Groft S, van der Westhuizen FH, Gassman SD, du Plessis K, Coles EP, Selebatso E, Selebatso M, Gaobinelwe B, Selebatso T, Joel D, Llera VA, Vorster BC, Wuebbels B, Djoudalbaye B, Austin CP, Kumuthini J, Forman J, Kaufmann P, Chipeta J, Gavhed D, Larsson A, Stojiljkovic M, Nordgren A, Roldan EJA, Taruscio D, Wong-Rieger D, Nowak K, Bilkey GA, Easteal S, Bowdin S, Reichardt JKV, Beltran S, Kosaki K, van Karnebeek CDM, Gong M, Shuyang Z, Mehrian-Shai R, Adams DR, Puri RD, Zhang F, Pachter N, Muenke M, Nellaker C, Gahl WA, Cederroth H, Broley S, Schoonen M, Boycott KM, Posada M. A call for global action for rare diseases in Africa. Nat Genet 2020; 52:21-26. [PMID: 31873296 DOI: 10.1038/s41588-019-0552-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Gareth S Baynam
- Genetic Services of Western Australia, Department of Health, Government of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.,The Western Australian Register of Developmental Anomalies, Department of Health, Government of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.,School of Medicine, Division of Pediatrics; and Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Stephen Groft
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | | | | | | | - Emily P Coles
- Office of Population Health Genomics, Department of Health, Government of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Eda Selebatso
- Botswana Organization for Rare Diseases (BORDIS), Gaborone, Botswana
| | - Moses Selebatso
- Botswana Organization for Rare Diseases (BORDIS), Gaborone, Botswana
| | | | - Tebogo Selebatso
- Botswana Organization for Rare Diseases (BORDIS), Gaborone, Botswana.,Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Gaborone, Botswana
| | - Dipesalema Joel
- Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Botswana School of Medicine, Botswana-Baylor Children's Clinical Centre of Excellence and Princess Marina Hospital, Gaborone, Botswana
| | | | - Barend C Vorster
- Laboratory for Inborn Errors of Metabolism (PLIEM), Center for Human Metabolomics (CHM) at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa
| | - Barbara Wuebbels
- Professional Patient Advocates in the Life Sciences (PPALS), Danbury, CT, USA
| | - Benjamin Djoudalbaye
- Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, African Union Commission, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Christopher P Austin
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Judit Kumuthini
- Centre for Proteomic & Genomic Research, Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - John Forman
- Unaffiliated rare-disease advocate, Wellington, New Zealand
| | | | - James Chipeta
- University of Zambia School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, University Teaching Hospitals-Lusaka Children Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia
| | - Désirée Gavhed
- Department of Women's and Children's Health, Childhood Cancer Research Unit, Karolinska Institutet, and Karolinska Center for Rare Diseases, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Maja Stojiljkovic
- Laboratory for Molecular Biomedicine, Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering (IMGGE), University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Ann Nordgren
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery and Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolina Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Domenica Taruscio
- National Centre for Rare Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
| | - Durhane Wong-Rieger
- Canadian Organization for Rare Disorders, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.,Rare Diseases International, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Kristen Nowak
- Office of Population Health Genomics, Department of Health, Government of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Gemma A Bilkey
- Office of Population Health Genomics, Department of Health, Government of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.,Office of the Chief Health Officer, Public and Aboriginal Health Division, Department of Health, Government of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Simon Easteal
- John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Sarah Bowdin
- Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK
| | - Juergen K V Reichardt
- Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine (AITHM), James Cook University, Smithfield, Queensland, Australia
| | - Sergi Beltran
- Centro Nacional de Análisis Genómico, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CNAG-CRG), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain.,Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Kenjiro Kosaki
- Center for Medical Genetics, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Clara D M van Karnebeek
- Departments of Pediatrics and Clinical Genetics, Emma Children's Hospital, Amsterdam University Medical Centres, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.,Department of Pediatrics, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Mengchun Gong
- National Rare Diseases Registry System of China (NRDRS), Beijing, China
| | - Zhang Shuyang
- Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China
| | | | - David R Adams
- Undiagnosed Diseases Program, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Ratna D Puri
- Institute of Medical Genetics & Genomics, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, India
| | - Feng Zhang
- SeekIn. Inc., Yantian, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
| | - Nicholas Pachter
- Genetic Services of Western Australia, Department of Health, Government of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.,School of Medicine, Division of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.,School of Medicine, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Maximilian Muenke
- Medical Genetics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Christoffer Nellaker
- Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, and Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - William A Gahl
- National Human Genome Research Institute and NIH Undiagnosed Diseases Program, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | | | - Stephanie Broley
- Genetic Services of Western Australia, Department of Health, Government of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Maryke Schoonen
- Mitochondria Research Laboratory, Human Metabolomics, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa
| | - Kym M Boycott
- Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Manuel Posada
- Instituto de Investigación en Enfermedades Raras & CIBERER, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
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