Moreover, such genetics research raises many ethical issues, such as privacy, community benefits, informed consent, gene “ownership” and expropriation, stigmatization, and intellectual property, among others. Each country, with its own culture and history, will approach these issues in unique ways. In order to carry out international collaborative genetics research, it is necessary to both understand and participate in an international consensus on how to involve individuals and communities in research, while also respecting culture-specific sensitivities and solutions. Consequently, an equally critical aspect of each program is training in the ethical, legal, and social implications of genetics and genomics research within the cultural context of the participating countries.

Another aspect of building capacity in the genetic sciences is building the expertise needed to access and analyze the new genomic data being generated globally. Although most of this data is freely available, it cannot be translated into health benefits for developing countries without considerable bioinformatics expertise. Informatics skills are also a core capability necessary for data management in all areas of research. While several organizations offer short courses and web-based teaching materials for developing country scientists, subsidized bioinformatics training opportunities remain extremely limited.

Recognizing this crucial need for research training in the information sciences, the FIC and its NIH partners recently launched a new program to promote informatics training for global health. In Brazil, Peru, Mali, Tanzania, and South Africa, researchers will be trained to become active collaborators with scientists involved in ongoing research projects at the institution. For example, a program at the Centro de Pesquisas Rene Rachou-FIOCRUZ in Brazil will enhance research focused on understanding and eradicating major human parasites and their vectors. The unifying project for this training will be the creation of a genome database for the parasite that causes schistosomiasis, which is endemic in over 76 countries, with over 200 million infected individuals per year. Additionally, two programs in South Africa will provide opportunities for trainees to work on the development of HIV databases. Projects will range from structuring patient records for use in clinical research to capturing information on HIV genomic variations and patient responses to various antiviral therapies.

It is clear that the recent advances in genetics hold enormous promise to address public health issues of grave concern to developing countries. Those promises, however, remain to be actualized. It is not a simple problem to weigh when and at what level a resource-poor country facing severe shortages of personnel and infrastructure should invest in building capacity.

Nonetheless, we have argued that these countries, in fact, have much to contribute and that there are many ways to enable genetic sciences. In five or ten years, many developing countries will have entered the epidemiological transition and will face increasing public health crises of the common chronic, non-communicable diseases, in addition to carrying a burden of infectious disease. To prepare for that transition, development of scientific capacity in the genetic, genomic, and information sciences, at levels appropriate to the needs and resources of each country, must begin without delay.