No fewer than 120,000 children born with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) in Nigeria die before their fifth birthday, minister of health, Osagie Ehanire has said.
The minister explained that Nigeria has the highest burden of sickle cell in the whole world ahead of Democratic Republic of Congo and India, with an estimated 150,000 infants born with the disease every year.
The minister regretted that the huge burden and deaths have persisted in Nigeria and other countries in the World Health Organisation (WHO) African Region due to inadequate national policies and plans or facilities to tackle SCD.
“Trained personnel are scarce, adequate diagnostic tools and treatment are insufficient for the prevention and control of the disease”, he said.
He explained that about 80 percent of the 150,000 children born with the disease die, while those that manage to survive suffer end-organs damage which shortens their lifespan including stroke.
The minister in a statement to commemorate the 2021 World Sickle Cell Day signed by Nwokike Brendan, the ministry’s spokesperson said SCD is among the top 5 non-communicable diseases (NCDs) significantly contributing to maternal, neonatal, infant and child disability, morbidity and mortality .
He added that SCD is frequently associated with problems such HIV/AIDS especially in those with history of frequent blood transfusion and stroke, other are failure to thrive in children, stunting, stigmatization, job discrimination and illness related absenteeism from school and work, depression; and psychosocial illnesses, marital issues such as difficulty in getting married, recurrent and miscarriages.
“The 2021 World Sickle Cell Day commemoration with the theme “Shine the Light on Sickle Cell” gives us a unique opportunity to raise awareness about the increasing burden of SCD and eliminate the negative notion associated with it as well as building synergy with civil society organizations, international institutions and development partners towards the prevention, control and management SCD in Nigeria.
“Sickle cell disease though endemic in Nigeria is also preventable. We must all make concerted efforts in checking our genotype and key into this Initiative so that together we can halt this epidemic. This will ensure the reduction in the prevalence of sickle cell disease in our country”, he said.
In recognition of the huge burden of Sickle Cell Disease in Nigeria, the minister said the government has instituted several strategic Interventions to address the challenges of the disease, which includes, the establishment of six centres of excellence for the control and management of SCD; The establishment of the Multi-sectorial Action Program (MSAP) Technical Committee involving different MDAs; Harmonization of the various Sickle Cell Disease Bills among others.
He said in the future, government plans to revitalizate and re-position the six zonal SCD centres for improved service delivery; Implement the national guideline for the prevention, control and management of Sickle Cell Disease including the protocol for newborn screening; Integrate SCD care and services into the maternal and child health services especially at the primary and secondary levels of healthcare in Nigeria among others.
Sickle Cell Disease is a genetic (hereditary) disorder that occurs when an individual has inherited two mutant (abnormal) haemoglobin (Hb) genes from both parents, at least one of which is HbS and the resulting symptoms and signs are due to abnormality in the shape of red blood cells.
In sickle cell disease, red blood cells are deformed (taken the shape of “sickle”), rigid and fragile and by reason of this being unable to sufficiently carry out their normal functions, notably oxygen delivery.
Available record shows that Sickle Cell Disease affects nearly 100 million people in the world and is also responsible for over 50 percent of deaths in those with the most severe form of the disease (Hb SS).
Available statistics show that in the WHO African Region, 10 percent –40 percent of the population carry the sickle-cell gene resulting in estimated Sickle Cell Disease prevalence of at least 2 percent.
