15,000 Children Born With Sickle Cell Disease

Fifteen thousand children are born with sickle cell disease in the country annually, Sickle Cell Condition Advocates (SICCA) Ghana has said.

According to the Founder of SICCA, Ms Charlotte Owusu, out of the number, 95 per cent did not live beyond their fifth birthdays.

To help people know their sickle cell status prior to giving birth, a pilot project has been launched for the three northern regions of the country by the Ministry of Health (MoH) and SICCA in Accra.

Under the project, dubbed the ‘Sickle Cell Advocacy Project’, SICCA is expected to set up facilities to encourage people to test for their genetic make-up.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) report on sickle cell, about 25 to 30 per cent of Ghanaians carry sickle cell genes that can result in the disease.

Sickle cell is an inherited disorder of the haemoglobin in the red blood cell which is manifested through a variety of complications, including chronic anaemia, severe episodes of pain of a biting nature in the bones, joints and chest and abdominal pain which is normally referred to as crisis.

The crises are normally triggered by infections, dehydration, exposure to extremes in temperature, strenuous exercise and emotional and mental stress. Sickle Cell Disease can be prevented or managed through early detection in new-borns by screening.

Data from the Upper East Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) show that there was an upsurge of the disease from 222 in 2002 to 869 in 2010.

The Head of the Regenerative Health and Nutrition Division of the MoH, Mr Kofi Adusei, who launched the project, said the move to establish Sickle Cell Disease clinics in the three northern regions would help reduce the prevalence of the disease in those areas.

He said Africa, the Mediterranean region, the Caribbean, South and Central America have been identified as areas with the most prevalence traits of the disease and said the condition should be treated as a significant medical, health and social challenge for people.

Mr Adusei said the devastating effect of sickle cell required that enough education and support base programmes were created on it to enable all stakeholders to effectively contribute to its management.

The Board Chairman of SICCA, Reverend Dr Steve Asante, commended the MoH for collaborating with the NGO to ensure that enough knowledge of the disease was generated and shared.