Sickle cell: Experts want bone marrow registry established
A consultant haematologist with Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Shika in Zaria; Prof Aliyu A. Babadoko has called for the establishment of bone marrow registry to enhance the treatment of the sickle cell disease.
The call was made as Nigeria joins the rest of the globe to commemorate the World Sickle Cell day.
Babadoko, speaking at an event themed ‘A journey through the most common genetic blood disorder,’ said there is a cure for sickle cell known as ‘stem cell transplant’.
The event was organized by Sickle Cell Cohort Research (SCORE) in collaboration with Safiya Sickle Cell Foundation, Kaduna State University (KASU) and Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital among others.
“What is required is not the bone but blood from the bone marrow where blood is formed because the stem cells are within that region and it is the stem cells that will repopulate the patient’s red cells because they produce new normal cells,” he said.
He also said that newer drugs for management of sickle cell disorder such as Hydroxyurea among others should be made available.
“Nearly 90% of the world’s sickle cell disease population live in three countries: Nigeria, India and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nigeria alone has been estimated to have at least 150,000 newborn babies with sickle cell disease annually,” he said.
Also, Dr Waziri Aliyu Dahiru, another consultant haematologist with the Department of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, ABUTH, Zaria called on government to establish bone marrow transplant centres in all the geopolitical zones of the country where patients who require stem cell transplant can be treated.
Earlier in an interview, the media officer of Sickle Cell Cohort Research (SCORE), Jiral Diwang disclosed plan by her organization to begin newborn screening, starting from Kaduna state.
Similarly, the president and co-founder of Safiya Sickle Cell Foundation, Bilkisu Mohammed Aminu stressed the need for more awareness particularly in the rural areas.