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High sickle cell disease burden in north puzzles health workers
Some of sickle cell children during a medical camp in Uganda recently. Photo | Jessica Sabano
What you need to know:
- According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders.
The Uganda Medical Association (UMA) has warned that unless the government acts quickly on the rapidly rising prevalence of sickle cell disease in the north, the situation could get out of hand.
The warning was made during a two-day conference to brainstorm on ways to strengthen the country’s healthcare system in the post-Covid-19 era.
The conference was held in Gulu City at the weekend. It was attended by more than 100 medical doctors.
During the conference, the medics noted that the prevalence of sickle cell disease in northern Uganda was rising and that government’s efforts to reverse the trend had remained worryingly low.
Prof Richard Idro, a paediatrics and child health consultant at Mulago National Referral Hospital, said: “Today one in seven Ugandan babies who are born have sickle cell. The incidence is highest in Acholi and Lango and followed by the areas of the east Teso, Busoga and areas of Bundibugyo and Buganda.”
He said one in every five people in Acholi and Lango sub-regions is a carrier of the sickle cell gene.
About five years ago, the UMA rolled out trials for hydroxyurea, a cancer treatment drug, to treat sickle cell patients.
The treatment reduced the effects of the disease. Children who were enrolled on hydroxyurea got sick or were hospitalised less frequently and required less blood transfusions.
However, this medication costs Shs1,000 a day, a price some families cannot afford.
“We should make it a point that every single person with sickle cell anaemia in this country should not be limited because of the Shs1,000. All of them should receive this medicine freely and the government should shoulder these costs,” Dr Gilbert Nyeko, a member of the association, said.
In September last year, the Health ministry launched a sickle cell Clinic at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital.
According to the ministry, this followed an increase in the number of cases of Sickle Cell cases reported in Acholi Sub-region.
Dr Charles Oyoo Akia, the commissioner-in-charge of sickle cell at the ministry, said one in four persons in the sub-region was a carrier of sickle cell disease, higher than the national rate of one in seven.
“The clinic offers optimum care and management of persons living with the disease in the region including newborn screening, patient care, genetic counselling (pre-marital counselling), patients’ education, etc,” Dr Oyoo said.
Other beneficiaries of the initiative are Lira, Soroti, Mbale Jinja, and Mulago hospitals.
About sickle cell disease
According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders.
In someone who has SCD, the hemoglobin is abnormal, which causes the red blood cells to become hard and sticky and look like a C-shaped farm tool called a “sickle.”
