The African Esophageal Cancer Consortium – Etiology Pooling Project (AfrECC-EPP)

The burden of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is extremely high and remains understudied on the African continent, particularly the eastern and southern African coastal region. A group of researchers conducting ESCC research in this region formed the African Esophageal Cancer Consortium (AfrECC) to coordinate ESCC research in Africa. Since the 2010s, members of AfrECC have conducted several case–control studies to understand the lifestyle, environmental, and molecular risk factors for ESCC in Africa. The AfrECC – Etiology Pooling Project (AfrECC-EPP) will facilitate the sharing, pooling, and harmonization of data from individual case–control studies of ESCC within AfrECC and those conducted by other ESCC researchers in Africa. The goal is to create the AfrECC-EPP open data resource, which will be shared and used for analyses in proposed projects upon approval by the AfrECC-EPP Steering Committee.

The research objectives of AfrECC-EPP are:

1. Enable collaborative etiological research on ESCC in Africa.
2. Facilitate large-scale epidemiological analyses with enhanced statistical power compared with single studies.
3. Enable analyses of population subsets and rare exposures.
4. Bring together ESCC etiological research efforts in Africa, and examine consistencies in ESCC risk factors.

This large data resource will provide a unique opportunity to fill gaps in knowledge about ESCC etiology and play an active role in research translation and outreach for the prevention of oesophageal cancer in Africa.

Access AfrECC-EPP

1. Apply using the forms below.
2. The project is reviewed and approved by the steering committee.
3. The applicant institution signs a data transfer agreement (DTA) with IARC.
   Data submission or access is granted.

Dr Anthony Kityo
International Agency for Research on Cancer
kityoa@iarc.who.int