Some time was spent discussing which journal should be targeted for the executive summary.  The journal should be high profile and widely read.  On these grounds, the Lancet was thought to be appropriate as it is freely available to resource poor countries, unlike Nature Genetics.  There is no reason not to target more than one – e.g. send a 'press release' type summary to be included in the news and views sections of Nature, Nature Genetics etc.  The executive summary should be produced within one month and it was agreed that GS would coordinate this and that each speaker would provide a short summary of their talk for him to collate.  P Marshall and M Newport offered assistance with this task.  MN will forward a similar report produced for the 'Immunisation of newborns in the tropics' meeting held in The Gambia in 1999, which was published in Vaccine and might be a useful template.

The meeting and its proceedings will also be posted on the AfSHG website.  All speakers were asked to provide an electronic version of their presentation for the website.  Speakers should also provide annotations to go with the slides to make them intelligible in this context.  Photographs from the meeting and a list of attendees will also be posted. 

2) Future Meetings

2.1) Frequency

A follow up meeting in one year's time is essential to consolidate on the success of this first meeting.  Thereafter meetings could be biennial initially and become annual as the AfSHG grows, but the main focus of today's discussion was next year's meeting.

2.2) Location for the 2^nd AfSHG Meeting

General considerations raised include accessibility, transportation, cost, political stability and regional rotation such that all parts of Africa are included. Three possible venues were suggested: Addis Ababa, The Gambia and South Africa. 

a) Muntaser Ibrahim put forward the case for Addis Ababa.  This would allow merging with the East African SHG.  Other members of the EAHGS are apparently keen to integrate, but further discussions with the appropriate individuals and organisations in Ethiopia are required.  MI will take this on and report back.  He pointed out that an Ethiopian venue excluded Eritrea from participating.  Ethiopia boasts a cheap, good airline that flies widely across Africa.

b) The Gambia – in conjunction with the MRC/Gambia Government.  Ideally should not really be another West African location for the second meeting if this is to be truly an African society.

c) South Africa – Cape Town in conjunction with UWC/SANBI and involvement of the Southern African Human Genetics Society.

2.3) Date of 2nd Annual Meeting

General considerations for the date of the 2^nd AfSHG Annual Meeting included the venue's climate (e.g. not a good idea to hold it during the rainy season for whichever town selected), occurrence of elections, teaching commitments, the willingness of a given government to underwrite some of the costs, and the fact that flight costs escalate by December.  However, it was agreed that it was very important to have the next meeting one year from now - the first half of next year is too close to this one in organisational terms (getting the proceedings from this meeting published, getting sponsorship etc) but waiting longer than 12 months risks losing momentum.  It was decided to aim for late November early December 2004.  (It would be good to keep it inside 2004 if we want to call it an Annual meeting, but perhaps we should just call them the 1 ^st/2nd/3rd etc AfSHG Meeting if it is going to be biennial in future).

2.4) Funding and Sponsorship for the 2^nd AfSHG Meeting

Since the AfSHG is trying to create a paradigm shift in peoples' thinking, people within the continent should take ownership.  It was thus suggested that an African Government underwrites the costs of the meeting next year.  This would be a real challenge to achieve, but worth taking seriously.  It should be possible to identify individuals within governments with power or authority who could take this on.  For example GS mentioned that the Secretary of State for Health in The Gambia is a pathologist with a real interest in, and support for, the National Gambian Biobank.  Also the opening Guest of Honour speaker at this meeting made a commitment to the society and was keen to be a member.  An estimate of how much money is required to fund the meeting would be helpful when approaching governments.  Might even get some competition going! 

The other source of funding discussed was biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.  Clearly, money raised to support the next meeting (and for the AfSHG more generally) should not come with any strings attached.  It was suggested the companies could be graded according to whether they were preferred donors, possible donors or unacceptable.  Support could also come in non-monetary forms.  It should be possible to find out which companies are active in Africa, with services of interest or use to the Society that are ethical.  Those with research and educational agendas themselves would be appropriate. 

Membership subscriptions will raise some funds for the Society, especially if Corporate or Institutional Membership categories were available.  All members of the Society were encouraged to think how they can contribute to fund raising by taking advantage of their own connections.

Relevant journals should be invited as they might contribute financially, but also would get good publicity.

2.5) Programme agenda/theme

Pragmatically, the meeting theme has major implications for funding.  For example the study of disease is more likely to attract funding than the study of genetic variation per se, so they should be combined.  The theme should be broad but meaningful.  A number of titles were suggested. 

'Genetic variation and its implications for disease and human origins'

'Genetic variation and its implications for disease in Africa'

'Genome variation and its implications for human health and disease'

Some felt it was important to have Africa in the title. Others felt these themes were too broad for a meeting programme and better represented the overall aim of the Society, and perhaps could be used as the basis for a mission statement.  The meeting itself should be more focussed.  An alternative suggestion was to simply call the meeting 'The 2^nd Annual Meeting of the AfSHG', and a programme can be developed nearer the time.  There would be plenary sessions and themed sessions within the meeting, and as already discussed, the subjects for specialist sessions may well need to reflect where the funding is coming from, or rather chosen to enhance ability to get funds.  Exchange of technology and training should be on the agenda.

3) Committees

The following committees were set up:

a) Executive Committee: Chair: Charles Rotimi, Secretary: Melanie Newport, Treasurer: Felix Okojie, Communications and IT: Adebowale Adeyemo, plus 5 regional representatives to be appointed: North, South, Central, East and West

b) Taskforce Committee with responsibility for Documentation of 2003 Meeting: G Sirugo (coordinator), C Adebamowo, G Dunston, P Marshall, O Omotade, R Isokpehi, M Newport, C Rotimi, S Williams, M Ibrahim, Adebowale Adeyemo is the webmaster.

c) Organising Committee for 2^nd Annual AfSHG Meeting: Muntaser Ibrahim, Scott Williams, Kwabena Poku, Charmaine Royal, Giorgio Sirugo, Representative (s) from the host country. 

Subcommittees will be developed by this committee to achieve more specific tasks, such as programme development. 

4) Membership

Membership will build capacity for the AfSHG, and is also a means for fund raising.  Individual and Institutional membership will be available.  Within the individual category, student membership will be free (a strict definition of student will be required and included in the byelaws, but will basically cover undergraduates and graduate students).  Regarding membership costs for non-students, a motion was passed that individuals within Africa will pay $25, whilst those based permanently outside Africa will pay $125.  Institutional membership and other categories (e.g. life-long membership and honorary membership) will be defined in more detail by the Executive Committee. 

5) Funding

Funding is obviously crucial for the survival of the society.  Many of the funding issues raised above regarding the next meeting apply generally to the Society.  In addition to the Annual Meeting, funds will be required for specific projects, to sponsor members to attend other meetings etc.  All members of the society must accept responsibility to help raise funds, by thinking about their own connections and also by supporting the executive committee when requested.  The AfSHG has broad-ranging interests that should be highlighted.  Individual membership fees were decided, but more thought needs to go into Insitutional, and Honorary membership as a means to raise funds for the society.  A subcommittee for fundraising was recommended, to be chaired by the executive treasurer.  There are a number of organisations to approach – e.g. FASEB, DFID, USAID, NEPAD Fogarty International Center and private foundations. 

6) Collaboration

Unfortunately, time did not permit a deeper discussion on the importance of collaboration to the survival of the AfSHG.  The Society will encourage collaborative research and again this has important implications for funding.  A list of all members' contact details and interests will be posted on the website.  There will also be links to other websites of interest.  For example there are already websites constructed for those interested in genetics and African populations (c/o Scott Williams)

7) Miscellaneous Items

7.1) Integration with other African Genetic Societies

Other African Genetics Organisations include

a) East African Genetics Society which meets every 1-2 years with the next meeting planned for Addis Ababa

b) African Genome Initiative next meets in Cairo March 2004

c) Southern African Society for Human Genetics

d) African Bioinformatics Network

These organisations should be contacted and links developed.