Foundation Provides Self-Care Kit Relief for 300 Persons With Sickle Cell

As part of efforts to tackle sickle cell in Nigeria, Tony May’s Foundation has provided self care kits to 300 people living with sickle cell disorder in Lagos.

Presenting the kits to the beneficiaries at St. Joseph Mission Clinic, Kirikiri Town, Lagos, the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Foundation, Andrew Otokhina said the goal was to make sure people with SCD were healthy and crisis free.

“The gesture is in line with the vision of the Foundation which is to have a sickle cell free nation and advocate for a sickle cell policy in the treatment and management of sickle disorder in Nigeria, the chairman said.

He stressed the need for increased awareness about the disorder through various campaigns and implementation of a sickle cell policy through legislation.

He also said that the event is part of the strategies to engage communities and populace on the need for a collective effort in the fight against SCD which is endemic in Nigeria. “Government’s support for persons living with sickle cell is critical to the reduction of the burden of the condition in the country, he added.

On her part, the Legal Coordinator of the Foundation, Winifred Otokhina said the foundation was borne out of urgent need to create awareness about SCD and address the lack of proper health management of the disorder in Nigeria.

She also said that the foundation was addressing major factors that were contributing to the number of new recorded cases of SCD which is ignorance about disorder and the importance of genotype especially for people in sub-urban and rural areas.

She said; “We are currently embarking on awareness campaign in various parts of the country to address high level of ignorance about the disorder.”

The term sickle SCD describes a group of inherited red blood cell disorders. People with SCD have abnormal hemoglobin, called hemoglobin S or sickle hemoglobin in their red blood cells. Hemoglobin is a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body. SCD is the most common inherited blood disorder.

Studies have also shown that shortage of oxygen during exercise, everyday stress among other factors, cause the shortage and the red blood cells to sickle. It is no secret that Nigeria has the world’s largest population of people with SCD.