MADIVA: Using digital tools to study multimorbidity in Africa
Official title: MADIVA (Multimorbidity in Africa: Digital innovation, visualisation and application)
Funded at Wits Health Consortium (Pty), LTD · NIH-11515025 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A hosted research program in Africa is building advanced data resources and language-model based tools to study how multiple diseases and aging affect people in rural South Africa and urban Kenya.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Wits Health Consortium (Pty), LTD NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Parktown, South Africa) |
| Project start | September 15, 2021 |
| Project end | June 30, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $300,000 |
| NIH project number | 3U54TW012077-05S2 |
| Project ID | NIH-11515025 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are African adults living in rural Bushbuckridge (South Africa) or urban Nairobi (Kenya) who may participate in long-term health studies or provide biospecimens for research.
✕Less likely to help
Individuals who are not part of the study population or who choose not to participate may not directly benefit.
What this research studies
This project extends a large, multi-site research hub in Africa to create a rich dataset that combines genomics, microbiome, clinical, and biobanked samples with long-term health information. It will generate metabolomics profiles from stored blood samples to enable big-picture analyses of non-communicable diseases, aging, and the gut-brain connection. It also plans to establish and expand local capacity for advanced computing, including large language models and machine learning, at the participating sites. The work aims to test how findings from Africa generalize to other populations and strengthen data science resources for future research.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, patients could benefit from a more precise understanding of how aging and multimorbidity unfold in African populations, informing better prevention and care strategies.
How similar studies have gone: There is a growing field of multi-omics research in diverse populations, with promising insights, but this project’s breadth and regional focus are relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
-
Wits Health Consortium (Pty), LTD
Parktown, South Africa Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Hazelhurst, Scott — Wits Health Consortium (Pty), LTD
- Study coordinator: Hazelhurst, Scott
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.