An overwhelming majority of the data collected is from people of European ancestry. But researchers are trying to change that.
Adebowale Adeyemo, deputy director of the Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health at the National Human Genome Research Institute (part of the National Institutes of Health), says the research community has tended to assume that poorer countries, like many in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America, don't need genomic studies because the biggest killers there are infectious diseases. But chronic diseases, like diabetes and heart disease, are now on the rise in lower-income countries too, and Adeyemo says more genome studies are needed to understand different populations' risk factors for these conditions.
