By Ken Muthomi - Reporter
Kenya, 11 August 2026 - The KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) has partnered with Roche’s African Genomics Program to investigate the genetic causes of high blood pressure in Kenya and The Gambia.
In a statement, KWTRP said the collaboration aims to identify new warning signs, or biomarkers, in the body that could help explain why high blood pressure and related heart, kidney and metabolic conditions develop differently among African populations.
Through the partnership, KWTRP and Roche’s African Genomics Program will fully sequence the genetics of around 1,200 samples collected through KWTRP’s ongoing 'Improving Hypertension Control in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa' (IHCoR) study.
The study will allow researchers to scrutinise and map small variations and uncover the exact genetic drivers of high blood pressure.
Antony Etyang, Head of Epidemiology and Demography at KWTRP and a lead researcher on the study, said that findings will be central in engineering new treatments tailored specifically for these communities, without heavily relying on data from outside the continent.
"For too long, our understanding of heart and metabolic diseases has relied on data from outside the continent. By combining our clinical knowledge from the IHCoR study with advanced genetic sequencing, we can identify new warning signs, understand how the disease shows up here specifically, and build the local scientific skills needed to drive future discoveries,” Etyang said.
The partnership comes amid a growing burden of hypertension across Africa, with Sub-Saharan Africa having one of the highest rates of high blood pressure globally, with the condition linked to almost 700,000 deaths in the region in 2019.
Hypertension, commonly known as high blood pressure, happens when blood pushes too hard against your artery walls.
According to researchers, hypertension in the region also tends to develop earlier in life, be more severe and harder to control, increasing the risk of complications including heart failure, stroke and kidney disease.
However, despite this, African populations remain significantly underrepresented in studies used to understand human health and disease.
Apart from genetic sequencing, the partnership will support scientific capacity building by funding two PhD students and one postdoctoral researcher. Roche will also provide technical support through its data scientists.
The partnership will also create a secure data network linking research sites in Kenya and The Gambia, which will enable researchers to analyse the data generated safely.
The data itself will stay hosted in Africa, managed by KWTRP while remaining available for shared research with scientists around the world.
Lisa Rooney Slater, Head of the African Genomics Program at Roche, maintained that understanding factors that catalyse the increase of heart, kidney and metabolic diseases in Africa will be central in engineering more effective healthcare solutions.
"Understanding what drives heart, kidney, and metabolic diseases in African populations is essential to developing better, more effective healthcare solutions globally. We are proud to partner with KEMRI and look forward to the discoveries this partnership will produce,” Slater stated.
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