A call has been put across to Nigerians for an upscale of preventive measures and awareness strategies as the only ways of reducing the prevalence of sickle cell in the society.
An organization on the frontline of sickle cell disease advocacy, care, and management, Vicar Hope Foundation, VHF in a statement to mark the end of September Global Sickle Cell Awareness Month, renewed calls for school age children and young adults to carry out blood group and genotype tests to know their status.
According to the statement signed by its Vice President, Dr Edith Nwosu, VHF called on the stakeholders in Abia State to encourage the implementation of the Abia State Law 5 of 2018, otherwise known as the Abia State Identification of Blood Group and Genotype Law, which would help reduce the disease burden.
Though not communicable, the sickle cell disease is inherited through gene transfer from parent to children at childbirth, hence the need to discover the sickle cell genetic traits early before marriage or procreation. The disease is known to attack red blood cells and cause life-long pain and poor health to carriers, sometimes resulting in death.
The Foundation therefore advised Abians to visit its Care Centres at Aba and Umuahia where disease counselling, subsidized tests and disease management take place, adding that its work on sickle cell disorder is because most families affected by the disease are very poor, with limited access to qualitative medical care and valuable, life-saving information about the disease.
Founded by former First Lady of Abia State, Mrs. Nkechi Ikpeazu and partners, VHF have celebrated Sickle Cell Awareness Month since 2015 and the event lineup often features road shows, radio talk-shows, online engagements, rallies, and distribution of free drugs to people with sickle cell disorder, alongside the subsidized treatment offered at the Foundation’s medical centres in Umuahia and Aba.
