{"id":144345,"date":"2025-06-27T18:15:02","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T18:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/urbanization-threatens-microbial-diversity-in-africa"},"modified":"2025-06-27T18:45:21","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T18:45:21","slug":"urbanization-threatens-microbial-diversity-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/urbanization-threatens-microbial-diversity-in-africa","title":{"rendered":"Urbanization Threatens Microbial Diversity in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Kenya. <\/strong><\/span><b>While most gut microbiome research focuses on high-income countries, a groundbreaking study led by two South African scientists is shifting that narrative. Dr. Luicer Anne Ingasia Olubayo and Professor Scott Hazelhurst from the University of the Witwatersrand, in collaboration with Stanford University, have released one of the most comprehensive studies on gut health in African populations to date.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The newly published research analyzed the gut microbiomes of 1,800 adult women from six diverse communities across Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. The project offers rare insight into how environment, culture, and urbanization shape the gut \u2014 and ultimately, human health.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOther parts of the world have data from high-income countries,\u201d said Dr. Olubayo, a postdoctoral fellow at the Sydney Brenner Institute of Molecular Biosciences. \u201cBut us being able to work on the African gut microbiome enables us to understand what a healthy gut looks like here \u2014 to establish a baseline for this population, and explore connections between microbes and disease.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One of the study\u2019s key findings is that geography was the dominant factor in shaping gut microbial composition. Researchers observed that more urbanized populations tended to lose certain beneficial bacteria, while rural communities, particularly in West Africa, maintained a richer microbial diversity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn rural populations like those in West Africa, where people still farm and live close to the land, we see certain bacteria consistently present,\u201d Dr. Olubayo explained. \u201cThey still have disease burdens, but their microbial diversity is higher \u2014 and higher diversity generally means better gut health.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The findings underscore the urgent need to diversify global microbiome research, particularly as urbanization continues to reshape health landscapes across Africa. With a strong foundation in genomic science and community collaboration, the AWI-Gen 2 Microbiome Project opens the door to more inclusive, equitable research \u2014 and a deeper understanding of how local environments influence health and disease globally.<\/p>\n<p><b>Source: Africanews<\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Kenya<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Kenya. While most gut microbiome research focuses on high-income countries, a groundbreaking study led by two South African scientists is shifting that narrative. Dr. Luicer Anne Ingasia Olubayo and Professor Scott Hazelhurst from the University of the Witwatersrand, in collaboration with Stanford University, have released one of the most comprehensive studies on gut [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":144344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[544,12582,686,13712],"class_list":["post-144345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","tag-kenya","tag-researcher","tag-south-africa","tag-stanford-university"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Urbanization Threatens Microbial Diversity in Africa - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While most gut microbiome research focuses on high-income countries, a groundbreaking study led by two South African ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/urbanization-threatens-microbial-diversity-in-africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Urbanization Threatens Microbial Diversity in Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While most gut microbiome research focuses on high-income countries, a groundbreaking study led by two South African ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/urbanization-threatens-microbial-diversity-in-africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-27T18:15:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-27T18:45:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2025\/06\/sm_1751033485.498967.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"538\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/urbanization-threatens-microbial-diversity-in-africa#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/urbanization-threatens-microbial-diversity-in-africa\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Urbanization Threatens Microbial Diversity in Africa\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-27T18:15:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-27T18:45:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/urbanization-threatens-microbial-diversity-in-africa\"},\"wordCount\":324,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/urbanization-threatens-microbial-diversity-in-africa#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2025\/06\/sm_1751033485.498967.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Kenya\",\"researcher\",\"South Africa\",\"Stanford University\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/urbanization-threatens-microbial-diversity-in-africa#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/urbanization-threatens-microbial-diversity-in-africa\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/urbanization-threatens-microbial-diversity-in-africa\",\"name\":\"Urbanization Threatens Microbial Diversity in Africa - 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