Following a profitable Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) on the Lagos College Educating Hospital (LUTH) two months in the past, the primary set of sufferers has been discharged after weeks of meticulous skilled care.
This was introduced by the chairman, Sickle Cell Basis of Nigeria (SCFN), Chief Tunde Afolabi who added that the 2 sufferers; one pediatric and one grownup will proceed to be adopted up by consultants to make sure most care.
Sickle cell dysfunction is an inherited illness wherein the crimson blood cells have an irregular crescent form, block small blood vessels, and don’t final so long as regular crimson blood cells.
Afolabi mentioned the dysfunction stays a big world public well being difficulty that impacts almost 100 million with over 50 % deaths amongst these with probably the most extreme type of the illness.
He famous that insufficient administration has led to a excessive mortality charge in Sub-Saharan Africa, the place roughly 70 % of sickle cell births happen.
Whereas an estimated 50 million individuals are sickle cell trait carriers and are prone to passing the dysfunction to their offspring, Afolabi defined about 150,000 infants had been born yearly with SCD, and over 100,000 die earlier than their fifth birthday in Nigeria.
“With the typical life expectancy of people in Nigeria dwelling with SCD at solely 20 years, the necessity for entry to efficient therapy and remedy has by no means been extra pressing,” he mentioned.
Talking on the price of therapy, the chairman famous that the transplant is pricey. He added that many people with SCD reside beneath the poverty line and face vital limitations to care. “This underscores the vital want for multi-sectoral collaborations and funding assist to create a sustainable mannequin for treating SCD in Nigeria.”
He appealed for partnerships with authorities our bodies, non-public organizations, and philanthropists to develop Entry to Care Programme, a digital platform that connects sponsors with sufferers in want of economic assist with clear fund monitoring and therapy progress which is being developed by SCFN to assist handle funding challenges.
