Blood type secrets of ethiopian groups could save lives

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

* INCLUSION CRITERIA: Healthy Volunteers \>= 18 year of age. Volunteer healthy donors above the age of 18 years, who have lived in the area since birth, and are at least 6 or 7 generation from endogenous families in the region, will be recruited. A detailed ancestral line of descent (pedigree) is not mandatory to the study and will not be performed. Individuals residing in rural regions are mostly conserved and it may be possible that some donors could be closely related. However, to identify as diverse a population of potential blood donors as possible, and avoid dilution of ancestral genes blood samples will be collected from individuals known to reside in the region for generations and not known to be closely related. Donors will be recruited through the local schools, churches, and community organizations. The oral consent will include a question where each donor will be asked if anyone in his/her family is also donating a sample, and, if so, how close the relationship is to that individual. Blood collection will be on a firstcome, first serve basis; individuals will be made aware that only one person among a group of close relatives will be included in the study. EXCLUSION CRITERIA: Individuals \< 18 years of age will be excluded from the study. The study is a population study and the information obtained from individuals above 18 years is not expected to be different from those who are under 18 years old. Also, the need to involve adults to consent individuals under 18 years old would be complicated. All donors should be healthy volunteer individuals at the time of sample collection. Any potential donor with physical and mental disability, individuals with known infectious and/or non-infectious diseases, and pregnant women, are excluded from the study. The study will be conducted in coordination with Addis Ababa University Medical Faculty and the regional Health Offices in collaboration with Ethiopian Red Cross. The local PI, Dr. Amha Gebgremedhin, is a member of the Addis Ababa University Medical faculty, Department of Hematology, residing in Addis Ababa. The local health centers in the three regions listed above will be used as centers for sample collection.