The Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor will on Saturday, 5 March 2011, at 08h30, deliver the opening address at the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) Conference, to be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre ( CTICC) in Cape Town.
The vision of H3Africa is to create and support a pan-continental network of laboratories that will be equipped to apply leading-edge research to the study of the complex interplay between environmental and genetic factors which determines disease susceptibility and drug responses in African populations. Data generated from this effort will inform strategies to address health inequity and ultimately lead to health benefits in Africa.
The goal of H3Africa is to organise the development of large-scale population studies by African researchers on African populations. H3Africa will use the new tools of genome research in combination with clinical and environmental analyses to understand the interaction of genes and the environment in health and illnesses.
In addition, H3Africa is intended to create new research capabilities in Africa, both in terms of infrastructure and in the creation of new collaborations between African researchers and researchers in the United States and Europe. It also intends to foster collaborations between researchers in different parts of Africa.
Journalists are invited.
Enquiries:
Lunga Ngqengelele
Ministerial Spokesperson
Tel: 012 843 6802
Cell: 082 566 0446
E-mail: lunga.ngqengelele@dst.gov.za
