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A project has been launched to collect DNA samples from 500,000 Africans or people of African heritage in order to redress an imbalance in current research.

Genetic research is becoming increasingly significant in finding cures for certain illnesses - but very few of the DNA samples used as the basis for the studies come from those whose origins are in Africa.

The Meharry Medical College in Nashville in the US now wants to address this.

Anil Shanker, senior vice-president of research and innovation at the college, told the BBC's Newsday programme that in the past African-Americans in the US were sometimes not included in DNA studies or were reluctant to come forward because of a mistrust of medical research.

Researchers will initially be collecting samples at colleges in the US as well as the University of Zambia, but they want to widen the net in Africa, the AFP news agency reports.

He said the project to collect the samples would take five years and the information would be stored with a non-profit organisation, the Diaspora Human Genomics Institute.