Africa’s Healing Code: Genomics Reshaping Medicine Across Continent

For decades, African patients have been treated with medicines designed from other people’s data. Doctors noticed something was missing when the same drugs worked differently from one body to another. Beneath those differences was a deeper truth, written quietly in DNA. Today, African scientists are learning how to read that story for themselves. Genomics is no longer just about research. It is about relevance. It is about turning Africa’s unmatched genetic diversity into better health, smarter treatment, and stronger systems of care. Africa is charting its own path toward the milestone year of 2063.

To understand how this shift is unfolding, Global South Pole spoke with three voices shaping Africa’s genomic future.

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At the front line of genomic medicine is Collet Dandara, a professor of human genetics at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. His work focuses on how Africa’s genetic diversity changes, and how diseases should be treated, especially serious illnesses like cancer, hypertension, and HIV.

Dandara explained that most modern drugs were developed using European or Asian genetic data. When those medicines meet African genomes, the results can be unpredictable. Genomics, he said, allows doctors to stop guessing and start personalizing care for African patients.

“Doctors are treating patients who are not just sick in one way, but in many ways at once. This is where genomics begins to change the logic of medicine. Instead of guessing, it helps doctors understand. Instead of trial and error, it offers direction. There has been a lack of African data in available databases, but already there are groups building biobanks of tumors. The importance of these biobanks is that they will help us decode the unique African cancer driver genes. However, different mutations are detected in different populations. It is therefore important to obtain as many tumor samples from African populations as possible, particularly from available databases, so that there can be early identification. In some areas, genomics can help us pinpoint the most common mutations found in aggressive cancers,” Dandara explained.

Building the Future:

If genomics is rewriting how doctors treat patients today, the next question becomes: who will carry this science into tomorrow?

That future is being shaped by young African scientists like Dr. Gladys Zugwai Ibrahim, a medical doctor, genomic medicine researcher, and founder of the Consortium of Genomics Students and Young Researchers in Africa. Her work focuses on building African capacity so that the continent does not just generate data but also interprets and leads its use.

Dr. Ibrahim said Africa must train young people in bioinformatics, data science, and AI so that genomics becomes practical for clinics, not just impressive in labs.

“Young people have the energy. In any community or society, when you bring young people into the picture, they come with energy and the ability to innovate. They come up with things you couldn't have imagined. A lot of our genomics experts in Africa are doing amazing work—we look up to them—but many started getting involved in genomics research in the latter parts of their careers. So we could say many have 10 to 15 years to do this work before they pass it down to the next generation. If we’re able to give young people the knowledge and capacity they need, I can't imagine the things they’re going to do. When you think of biotechnology, innovation, vaccine design—there are so many things we can actually do,” Dr. Ibrahim expressed.

Guarding Dignity:

But as Africa builds its genomic power, another question arises just as strongly: how do you protect identity, trust, and dignity when science touches something as intimate as DNA?

For that answer, Global South Pole turned to Dr. Herimampita Rarivomanantsoa, UNESCO Chair in Bioethics at the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar.

Dr. Herimampita said African genomics must be guided by African values. DNA is not just data. It is identity, memory, and inheritance. “Ethics,” he explained, is what keeps science human.

“Ethical responsibility in African genomics means recognizing that genetic data are not natural resources but deeply connected to personal identity, family ties, and collective histories. It requires moving beyond formal consent toward genuinely informed, culturally intelligible, and ongoing consent processes that respect all communities, understand the body, ancestry, and the inner returns. Ethical responsibility implies fair governance of benefits, ensuring that the African population are not merely sources of data but beneficiaries of the scientific, medical, and social outcomes of research. It demands strong local ethical oversight so that decisions about African genomes are made with African values, institutions, and priorities at the center,” Rarivomanantsoa echoed.

To listen to the whole conversation, tune in to the Global South Pole podcast, brought to you by Sputnik Africa.

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