Sickle Cell Kills 4,000 Children Annually

Mrs. Nneka Umera-Okeke, President of the Anambra Sickle Cell Association, says about 98 per cent of 4,000 children born with sickle cell disease in the state die at infancy.

Umera-Okeke disclosed this on Saturday at the celebration of the 2010 World Sickle Cell Day in Awka.

The theme of the celebration was “Awareness, Education and Hope”.

Umera-Okeke, who said the disease was a major challenge facing humanity in general and Nigeria in particular, noted that there was a need to create elaborate awareness of the problem.

“The necessity to create awareness for everyone to know their genotype is of utmost importance for us to see if the prevalence rate of the disease in the state could reduce.

“Sickle cell is a difficult disease to manage and is excruciatingly painful, but parents are educated not to lose hope and give up on their sickle cell-carrying children,” she said.

Umera-Okeke called for the establishment of a central hospital for such patients in the state, adding that through knowledge, help and hope, the disease cycle would be broken.

The Chairman, Anambra House of Assembly Committee on Health, Mr. Anthony Ezechinwoye, told newsmen that the bill for a law to establish three sickle cell management centres had been proposed.

Ezechinwoye said the centres would be established at the three senatorial zones of the state, adding that patients would gain access to drugs, information and advisory services.

“The bill, when passed into law, would ensure the appropriation of money for monitoring and control of the disease in the state,” the chairman added.

More than 300 sickle cell patients benefited from free drugs distributed at the occasion which signified the beginning of free drugs distribution to patients in the State.