CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNAL OF AFRICA • Volume 25, No 3, May/June 2014
134
AFRICA
Understanding the rise in cardiovascular diseases in
Africa: harmonising H3Africa genomic epidemiological
teams and tools
Mayowa O Owolabi, George A Mensah, Paul L Kimmel, Dwomoa Adu, Michele Ramsay,
Salina P Waddy, Bruce Ovbiagele, Cristina Rabadan-Diehl, Rebekah Rasooly, Sally N Akarolo-Anthony,
Charles Rotimi as members of the H3Africa Consortium
Abstract
Cardiovascular diseases, principally ischaemic heart disease
and stroke, are the leading causes of global mortality and
morbidity. Together with other non-communicable diseases,
they account for more than 60% of global deaths and pose
major social, economic and developmental challenges world-
wide. In Africa, there is now compelling evidence that the
major cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors are on the
rise, and so are the related fatal and non-fatal sequelae, which
occur at significantly younger ages than seen in high-income
countries. In order to tackle this rising burden of CVD, the
H3Africa Cardiovascular Working Group will hold an inau-
gural workshop on 30 May 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa.
The primary workshop objectives are to enhance our under-
standing of the genetic underpinnings of the common major
CVDs in Africa and strengthen collaborations among the
H3Africa teams and other researchers using novel genomic
and epidemiological tools to contribute to reducing the
burden of CVD on the continent.
Keywords:
cardiovascular diseases, H3Africa, Africa, genomics,
epidemiology
Submitted 23/3/14, accepted 13/5/14
Cardiovasc J Afr
2014;
25
: 134–136
DOI: 10.5830/CVJA-2014-030
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are currently responsible
for over 60% of global deaths. NCDs, which threaten the
economic and social development of nations across the globe,
are predicted to increase in the coming decades.
1
Globally,
non-communicable cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the
leading cause of mortality, morbidity and rising healthcare
costs.
1-5
Although there are huge data gaps
6,7
and time lags between
original data gathering and publication on the current burden
of CVD in Africa, recent evidence suggests that the burden of
stroke and other CVDs is rising on the continent.
3,8-12
Stroke is
the second leading cause of death globally, with 70.9% of deaths
due to stroke, and 77.7% of the disability-adjusted life years lost
occurring in low- and middle-income countries, many of which
are in Africa.
8
Whereas ischaemic heart disease tops the list of CVDs
in high-income countries, stroke predominates in African
countries.
3,10-13
This is possibly because most African countries
are in stage two or three of their epidemiological transition.
14
This
epidemiological transition is due to a combination of lifestyle
and dietary changes, urbanisation, and demographic transition
(increasing life expectancy and population growth),
7,14,15
against a
background of unique patterns of genomic variation.
Whereas from 1990 to 2010, the age-standardised incidence
of stroke significantly decreased by 12% in high-income
countries due to the successful deployment of public health
tools and interventions,
8
it has increased in Africa.
8,9
There is an
urgent need to identify knowledge gaps and propose a synergistic
Department of Medicine, University College Hospital,
University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
Mayowa O Owolabi, Dr Med,
Center for Translation Research and Implementation
Science, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute,
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
George A Mensah, MD,
Cristina Rabadan-Diehl, MD
Division of Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases,
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney
Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
Paul L Kimmel, MD
Rebekah Rasooly, MD
University of Ghana Medical School, Accra, Ghana
Dwomoa Adu, MD
Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience,
University of the Witwatersrand; Division of Human
Genetics, NHLS and School of Pathology, Faculty
of Health Sciences, University of Witwatersrand,
Johannesburg, South Africa
Michele Ramsay, PhD
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke,
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
Salina P Waddy, MD
Department of Neurology, Medical University of South
Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA
Bruce Ovbiagele, MD
Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health,
Boston, MA, USA
Sally N Akarolo-Anthony, MD
Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health,
National Human Genome Research Institute, National
Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
Charles Rotimi, PhD
