The Ministry of Health (MoH) is actively working on a comprehensive strategy to address sickle cell disease, a significant public health challenge in the nation.
According to recent data, two per cent of newborns are affected by the disease, and approximately one-third of the population carries the hemoglobin S and/or C gene.
Dr Mavis Sakyi, Acting Head of Health Promotion at the MoH, highlighted in a Citi News interview on Wednesday that these figures equate to nearly 18,000 affected children annually, with around 25% carrying the trait.
She said this during the inaugural conference on the Prevention of Sickle Cell Disease organised by the Sickle Cell Condition Advocates (SICCA) in Accra.
“As we speak, the ministry is doing their best to put up a sickle cell strategy and hopefully its implementation that would help improve the care of the disease in Ghana,” she stated.
Dr Sakyi also emphasised the importance of testing and knowing one’s status to prevent complications, particularly when considering future partnerships.
“Sickle Cell is real, and we hear it a lot. This is not your blood group but rather a categorisation when it comes to the blood. But it has very dire effect if you decide you’re going to go ahead and have a child with sickle cell disease. I’d strongly advice, don’t wait till you’re going for marriage counselling because by then it would have been too late, because once you have it, the pain, burden and trauma would be felt by everybody,” she added.
Charlotte Owusu, Founder and CEO of SICCA, called on the government to provide free healthcare for individuals with Sickle Cell Disease.
She pointed out the challenges patients face in accessing medication, despite its availability, due to high costs.
“This is actually a disease which was not acquired, but rather they were born with it so it would help us a great deal, if they’d help us promote this advocacy on preventing the disease. Currently we don’t even have our health insurance covering some of these expenses so it’s very disturbing and I think we should prioritise the health of these patients,” she said.
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