The birth of an African Population Cohorts Consortium to mobilise longitudinal data and research for impact

This proposal details the establishment of the African Population Cohorts Consortium (APCC), a collaborative effort to unlock the potential of longitudinal data from African cohorts for impactful research and policy influence. The APCC aims to unite African cohort leaders and researchers, fostering networking, best practice exchange, and innovative approaches to data sharing and harmonisation. The project's core goals include setting up a secretariat hosted by the Science for Africa Foundation (SFA), formalising cohort membership, and convening the inaugural annual meeting. Additional goals centre around the development of three strategic research programs: health and wellbeing across the lifespan, climate change and health, and leveraging cohorts to enhance universal health coverage. To facilitate ethical and efficient research, the APCC will develop harmonised ethical guidelines, data-sharing protocols, and a "TRE-in-a-Box"—a secure, cohort-level trusted research environment. This will be complemented by a federated workspace at the Africa Bioinformatics Institute (ABI) to streamline data access and analysis of multi-cohort data. By enhancing African research capacity, promoting scientific breakthroughs, and informing evidence-based policies, the APCC seeks to contribute to equitable universal health coverage and sustainable development across the continent.