Every year on DNA Day, people worldwide celebrate the discovery of DNA, how it helps us understand life, and its transformative effects on society. But in Africa, this day should also remind us of what needs to be done. If we want to use DNA to help solve crimes, exonerate the innocent, identify missing and unknown persons, and protect human rights, we must start by teaching our students and training our professionals. We need to build knowledge in our schools before we can build high-tech labs.
Classrooms before Crime Labs
A revolution does not begin in a vacuum or only in a single place or entity. African forensic genomics will not be built in the crime lab but fundamentally in the classroom. At present, we are witnessing a continental paradox. While DNA evidence becomes increasingly central in criminal justice, human rights, and missing and unknown persons investigations, the average African student is likely to complete high school and even an undergraduate or graduate program without ever encountering the words “forensic genomics.”
Far more disconcerting, many scientists and legal professionals who may one day handle such evidence or adjudicate a case lack the interdisciplinary training to understand its value, implications, and limitations (1). Without a systematic, integrated, and decolonised educational infrastructure, the promise of forensic genomics pervasive in Africa will remain distant.
Curriculum Realignment is the Keystone
Across Africa, biology curricula often end at Mendelian genetics and molecular biology, while criminal justice programs neglect the molecular aspects in their domain. These are foundational gaps that, if Africa is serious about genomic sovereignty, we must embed forensic genomics as a cross-cutting pillar in African science, law, and technology education, beginning in the earliest stages of formal schooling, not just later in education at the postgraduate level.
High Schools must teach the basics of genetics, DNA profiling, ancestry inference, and bioethics, tailored to African identities, local case studies, and with cultural and societal perspectives. Higher-level educational programs in biosciences, criminology, and law must offer core modules in forensic genomics where students engage with real-world casework datasets. This does not imply turning high schools into forensic labs. Rather, it means introducing students to foundational genomic concepts, real-world case applications, and bioethical literacy relevant to African societies
Finally, Interdisciplinary Tracks must be established, bridging bioinformatics, anthropology, law, and forensic ethics. Africa’s next-generation forensic scientists must be multilingual not in languages, but in literacies. In the absence of this realignment, we will continue to import not just equipment, but the way others want us to do things, thereby trading sovereignty for software and consumables.
A continent of 1.4 billion people should not have to outsource its forensic genomic analysis to external bodies in this era of advancement in science and technology. Yet today, few African universities offer dedicated master’s or doctoral programs in forensic genetics. Even though we have seen promising efforts in South Africa, Mauritius, Botswana, Morocco, Ghana, and Kenya, few countries in Africa have access to state-of-the-art methods such as massively parallel sequencing (MPS) and high-performance computing for teaching.
In Ghana, where I have taught and done engagements in forensic biotechnology and forensic science communication for over half a decade, the situation reflects the wider African trend. Few learners are exposed to, taught, or engage with the subject of forensic genomics throughout their academic journey at any level of education, despite the establishment of the Forensic DNA Laboratory (FDNAL) and the advancement of forensic science undergraduate and graduate programs.
This absence creates a triple crisis:
- Emigration: Talented African students pursue forensic genomics and related programs abroad and rarely return.
- Underutilization: Those trained in basic genetics often remain siloed, unable to work in applied forensic contexts if they remain in Africa.
- Dependency: Justice Systems remain reliant on external labs, undermining legal sovereignty, or they ignore the value of science in helping to resolve serious crime.
To reverse this, we must develop regional centres of excellence as pan-African hubs where students are trained using African genomic data, African case studies, and African ethical frameworks. Regional bodies like the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the East African Community (EAC), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and others must lead the charge to develop genomic education incubators.
Bridging Globally is Building Locally
Building local capacity often requires international scaffolding, hence, we need a strategic leapfrogging mechanism to speed up our existing systems while they evolve. While we strive to embed forensic genomics into African education systems, we must also leverage existing global infrastructure to accelerate this process.
For instance, programs such as H3Africa were seeded by returnees who had acquired foreign expertise through global training opportunities to build African capacity in biotechnology, epidemiology, and health genomics. Therefore, Graduate programs in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, many of which have established forensic genomics curricula and have Next Generation Sequencing and advanced forensic genomics expertise, must commit to expanding their intake of qualified African candidates through scholarships, internships, exchange programs, and collaborative fellowships.
These opportunities should not be extractive but reciprocal, and must enable return and support of local innovation aimed at building long-term capacity where it is needed most. We must encourage a pipeline of African forensic genomicists trained globally but rooted in local contexts, equipped with knowledge, experience, and technical tools and equally important with cultural and ethical fluency to shape the African forensic genomic revolution.
Education as Infrastructure for Justice
Genomic literacy is not just a scientific necessity but an infrastructure for justice, as well as reducing uncertainty and trauma, and bringing resolution to countless survivors, victims, and families. The danger of low genomic literacy is not just technical error, but how vulnerable our structures that require it could be. When police, lawyers, judges, and journalists lack genomic understanding and/or access, the chain of custody collapses not physically, but intellectually. Misinterpretations multiply, rights are violated, and injustices persist (2).
Contrast this situation with those of advanced countries like the US and the UK, which have invested early on in genomic education. It has yielded domestic DNA profiling and sequencing capacity, localised and national databases, graduate forensic genomics programs, and national forensic training centres. Africa must do the same or risk becoming a low-grade consumer, not a contributor, in the global forensic genomics knowledge economy.
Forensic genomics education must go beyond the pipette. It must challenge students to confront the social history of DNA in Africa. African forensic curricula must centre ethical thinking, where students are not just trained to extract DNA, but to question when, how, and why that extraction is just or is being done effectively or even correctly. Africans must learn Ubuntu, not as a metaphor, but as a scientific ethic where “we are because we are.” In this model, we can consider consent as communal, data as dialogical, and science as accountable.
The Ecosystem We Must Build
Education cannot be left to inertia or drift. We must plan and organise deliberately and collaboratively. I propose the launch of a Continental African Forensic Genomics Training Initiative (AFGTI), which would be a coalition of African universities, technical institutes, policy bodies, and justice actors, all supported by government initiatives and foundation support.
Some goals of AFGTI could be:
- Standardise forensic genomics curricula across African higher education.
- Embed interdisciplinary bioethics and African-centred case studies.
- Train scientists, as well as judges, lawyers, police, victim support groups, and policymakers.
- Build digital platforms for remote training and open science across the continent.
Intellectual and structural leadership of Africa’s scientific communities is needed for this goal to be successful. The African Society of Human Genetics, DNAforAfrica, the Pan African Bioinformatics Network for the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) consortium, African Academy of Sciences, and other regional scientific associations should formally join this coalition as architects, not just as endorsers.
These bodies should help shape training standards, curriculum design, and continental policies that foreground African contexts, genomes, and justice systems. Donors and institutions like the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the Mastercard Foundation, and UNESCO should see forensic genomics literacy not as a niche priority but as a developmental imperative.
Final Thought
Education is how we can lay the foundations and build the narrative of African forensic genomics sciences. We must not be passive receivers of imported tech and outside expertise, but instead awaken the great capacity that resides in Africa and become global contributors and architects of our forensic genomic futures.
Author’s Perspective:
This article represents a personal opinion and an aspirational vision rooted in my experience as a scientist and educator. It is written with the hope that Africa can rise to become a global contributor and leader in forensic genomics through strategic investments in education, infrastructure, and collaboration. The ideas shared are not intended to critique others, but to inspire dialogue and collective progress toward a more inclusive, sovereign, and scientifically empowered continent.
References
1. Sulley YS, Quansah L. Assessing the state of forensic support to criminal investigations in Ghana: A case study in the Greater Accra Region. Ghana Journal of Science. 2022;62(2):44–57.
2. Laporte G. Wrongful Convictions and DNA Exonerations: Understanding the Role of Forensic Science article. 2018.