Quality Assurance in Genomics: Critical for Africa’s Leap into Medical Breakthroughs

The recent surge in genomics across Africa during the Covid-19 pandemic is undoubtedly a reason for optimism. The African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) along with the World Health Organisation Regional Office for Africa (WHO Afro) and other entities have equipped African nations with next-generation sequencing (NGS), the gold standard for large-scale genomic work. The primary focus, for now, has been on genome sequencing of the virus responsible for Covid-19.

Yet, with an astoundingly swift leap into genomics, the continent grapples with the need for comprehensive quality assurance. Despite the complexity, genomics possesses incredible potential to save lives. Pharmacogenomics, for instance, has given rise to many new and improved treatments.

To tap into these advances, African scientists and institutions face numerous challenges, including ill-equipped facilities, lack of expertise, and access to research centres. Addressing these issues is crucial to bridging the gap with global standards set in genomics.

Tools to tackle the problems are being developed rapidly, and Africa's task is to adopt and implement these appropriately. Organizations such as the Public Health Alliance for Genomic Epidemiology (PHA4GE), the Africa CDC pathogen genomics initiative (Africa PGI), and others have started training programs, and are enhancing infrastructure and international co-operation agreements.

One global challenge lies in identifying reliable computational tools for 'gap filling' in genomic sequences. Merely filling gaps with reference data has proved to be problematic. Another issue is contamination of sequences by "foreign sequences", which can occur anywhere between the securing of a biosample to the processing of data.

On a positive note, Africa has already taken significant strides in genomics, and there are established standards by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) which they can follow for accrediting public health laboratories.

Quality assurance in genomics signifies the commitment to ensuring reliable data to predict disease outbreaks and contain them effectively. Thus, it has potential to change the narrative of disease impacts, particularly for Africa, where more than 100 disease outbreaks are reported annually, hindering developmental aspirations.