Demystify sickle cell; Raise awareness

Sickle Cell is a hereditary disease that has a prevalence rate of two per cent in the country. As the world marks the fifth Sickle Cell Day, educational institutes, clinics, and media outlets throughout the country have been called upon to raise awareness of the disease and to advocate against the stigmatisation associated with it.

At a press briefing in Accra on Tuesday to mark World Sickle Cell Day, the Head of the Institute of Clinical Genetics, Dr Mrs Ivy Ekem, said the only way to prevent people from experiencing the pains associated with the condition was to stop carriers of the trait of the disease from marrying each other.

Sponsored by the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service (GHS), the NGO Sickle Cell Condition Advocates (SICCA), and the World Health Organisation (WHO), this year’s event focuses on the theme “Know your sickle cell status - Stop the stigmatisation”.

According to UNIC, the World Sickle Cell Day initiatives include free sickle cell screenings in the Ghana Health Service (GHS) laboratories throughout the day on June 19. This she said could be done through testing and lots of awareness creation among the general populace.

Explaining how sickle cell anaemia comes about, Dr Mrs Ekem said the disease occurred in people that inherited the sickle cell gene from one parent and a normal haemoglobin gene from the other parent who had a condition called sickle cell trait.

Sickle cell trait, she said, was different from the sickle cell disease since people who had the sickle cell trait did not have the disease, but had one of the genes that caused the disease, saying that “just like people who have sickle cell disease, persons with sickle cell trait can pass on the gene to their children”.

According to Dr Mrs Ekem, currently, her outfit recorded three to four new cases of sickle cell diseases daily.

She said a national campaign on neonatal screening for early detection had been launched,  to help detect the disease in time for its prompt management.

Dr Mrs Ekem said Sickle Cell disease could not be treated but when detected early, it could be managed to help reduce the pains.

“Looking forward, we intend to empower our patients through education,” said the director of the Ghana Institute of Clinical Genetics (GICG), The National Professional Officer, Disease Prevention and Control of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Sally-Ann Ohene, who launched the programme, said the WHO was ready to provide technical support to end  the spread of the disease.

Dr Ohene said that more resources and infrastructure should be allocated to the prevention and management of sickle cell anaemia, saying that 10 to 14 per cent of the Ghanaian population carried the sickle cell gene.

The Vice President of the Sickle Cell Condition Advocates (SCCA), Dr T. K. Caiquo, said the country did not have adequate solutions to tackling the disease and therefore advised people to know their status before they got married.

He called for awareness creation and intensive education on the disease.

The Greater Accra Regional Director of Health, Dr Linda Vanooto, called on people to demystify myths surrounding the disease and advised that people should not be stigmatised but rather be given the needed support in times of crises.

She said one major challenge in the fight against sickle cell anaemia was providing care for pregnant women carrying the gene.

By Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho & Francesca Annicchiarico