The Medical Director of Alimosho General Hospital, Dr Ayodapo Soyinka, has called on youths to reduce the prevalence of sickle cell anaemia through knowledge of their genotypes and early screening.
Soyinka made this call, according to a statement on Monday, at an event organised by the hospital to commemorate the annual World Sickle Cell Awareness Day in Alimosho.
He said, “The number of children born with sickle cell in Nigeria annually is about 150,000, and more efforts are needed to drastically reduce the figure through public awareness and sensitisation, especially among young men and women planning to start having children.
“The prevalence of sickle cell disease is 2-3 per cent. There are still a lot of people who are unaware of their genotype, but knowing your genotype before conception will help reduce these numbers.
“Also, screening of newborns in mothers with ‘S’ genotype will help early identification of babies born with sickle cell disease. Thus, early treatment of these babies can commence immediately to prevent complications.”
The hospitals’ Head of the Department of Haematology, Dr Adebukola Orolu, urged stakeholders to join hands with the government to care for sickle cell patients.
“We celebrated this year’s World Sickle Cell Day with an awareness walk with sickle cell warriors and caregivers, haematologists, nurses, and nutritionists; we distributed free drugs and also carried out free genotype tests,” she stated.
