Table 1.  Summary of pre-workshop survey on environmental health research in existing H3Africa projects †.
Project location (s)  Collected environmental exposure data  Data of interest but not yet collected  Questionnaires capturing environmental exposures  Biospecimens collected  Additional biospecimen collection  ELSI ‡ questions  Training needs  Issues for sample management
South Africa    No  DNA  No  No
East Africa; West Africa; South Africa  Indoor air pollution; nutrition  Nutrition  No  Whole blood; DNA; Urine; Plasma; Serum  No    Laboratory training; Communication strategies with project sites; Storage capacity or related storage issues
Central Africa; East Africa   Indoor air pollution; Nutrition  No  Whole blood; DNA  No  Don't know  Laboratory training; Bioinformatic training; Statistical analysis skills development  Storage capacity or related storage issues
West Africa; South Africa  Indoor air pollution  Ambient air pollution; Metals; Pesticides; Mold; Nutrition  Yes  Whole blood; DNA; Urine; Plasma; Serum; Other: RNA, respiratory specimens (swabs, sputum)  Yes  Yes  Laboratory training; Bioinformatic training; Statistical analysis skills development  Laboratory training; Storage capacity or related storage issues; Other: timing of specimen collection
West Africa  Indoor air pollution; Metals; Pesticides  Ambient air pollution; Indoor Air Pollution; Electronic Waste; Metals; Pesticides; Mold; Nutrition  No  DNA; Other: RNA  Yes  Yes  Laboratory training; Bioinformatic training; Statistical analysis skills development  Laboratory training; Storage capacity or related storage issues
West Africa  Ambient air pollution  Indoor air pollution; Electronic waste; Metals; Pesticides; Mold; Nutrition  Yes  Whole blood; DNA; Urine; Plasma; Serum  Yes  Don't know   Storage capacity or related storage issues
East Africa    No  Whole blood; DNA; Serum  Yes  Don't know  Bioinformatic training  Laboratory training
East Africa; West Africa; South Africa  Indoor air pollution; Pesticides; Nutrition  Indoor air pollution; Pesticides; Nutrition  Yes  DNA; Urine; Plasma; Serum  Yes  No  Laboratory training; statistical analysis skills development  Storage capacity or related storage issues; Funding
West Africa  Indoor air pollution  Ambient air pollution  Yes  Whole blood; DNA; Plasma; Serum; Buffy Coat  Yes  No  Laboratory training; Bioinformatic training; Statistical analysis skills development  Laboratory training; Communication strategies with project sites; Storage capacity or related storage issues
† A survey to better understand environmental exposure data collected and of interest for H3Africa projects was distributed to all consortium projects prior to the workshop by the H3Africa coordinating center. Responses were available for nine projects to the following questions:
Project location (s): Geographic location(s) of study population(s)
Collected environmental exposure data: What environmental exposure data are you currently collecting in your study population? ( Figure 1 data)
Data of interest but not yet collected: What environmental exposure(s) pose a public health issue for your study population that you are not already collecting? ( Figure 1 data)
Questionnaires capturing environmental exposures: Do you capture information about environmental exposures in your study questionnaires?
Biospecimens collected: What samples are collected and available for research from your study participants? ( Figure 2 data)
Additional biospecimen collection: Is additional biospecimen collection possible for your study population (e.g. at follow-up visits with informed consent)?
ELSI questions: Do you have questions about ELSI issues for collecting environmental data (e.g. information about environmental exposures not specifically described in informed consent)?
Training needs: What are the training needs needed by your project to strengthen environmental health research capacity?
Issues for sample management: What are the critical issues for storing/managing samples for environmental analysis?
Two responses were also provided to the question, “What else may be a major challenge or obstacle for expanding environmental measures or environmental health research capacity in your project(s)?” Responses: 1) Logistics of sample collection and 2) Funding for additional exposure measurements, understanding relevance of additional exposures to outcomes being measured.
‡ ELSI: Ethical, legal, and social implications.