World Sickle Cell Day: SCSSN Advocates Policy Domestication

Against the backdrop
that a national policy be made to ensure the knowledge of citizen’s genotype from birth as well as proper management of sickle cell disorder patients, the Sickle Cell Support Society of Nigeria (SCSSN) has said that what was needed was a policy domestication.
The Coordinator, SCSSN, Rivers State branch, Dr. Dorathy A. Okoh said there had been a handbook of policy on the standardize management of sickle cell disorder maintaining that should those policies be domesticated, the high rate of SCD would be reduced in the country.
In her words, “on the issue of policy, the policy is not the problem. Nigeria is good at making policy but has the problem of  actual implementation. Already there is a booklet or handbook of policies on a standardized management of SCD but they have not been domesticated. It behavoes us to have a focus in the pursuant of ending the sickle cell scourge in the country”.
Okoh who is also a Consultant Hematologist and the representative of the Rivers State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Theophilus Odagme at the programme to mark the 2016 World Sickle Cell Awareness Day noted that the fight against the SCD demands a concerted national sickle cell network of not just the government but well meaning Nigerians as well as multinationals.
The Rivers State SCSSN Coordinator stated that as parts of efforts to achieving this goal, the society has developed a platform that engaged in screening at the community level as well as health workers on the management of the SCD.
“Having been involved in the care and management of patients of sickle cell disorder and understanding their plights, we are aware that these people can be helped to live a normal life as much as possible by providing support. It is for this reason that the Sickle Cell Support Society of Nigeria was established as a non-profit and non-governmental organisation in Nigeria. It’s goal include providing support for those affected by mobilizing society to understand the disorder and serve as a forum for people with SCD to interact with one another, share experiences among themselves and the health care workers attending to the victims. We also call on the support of individuals, relatives of sickle cell patients, stakeholders and multinationals to partner with us in realizing the goal”.
This year’s theme was ‘Stop the Pain of Sickle Cell Anaemia; Know your Genotype’.
Highlights of the events include media, school and church awareness campaigns and lectures on the disorder and its management.