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GHANA WEATHER

Two million Ghanaians living with Sickle Cell

sickle cell
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By Nicholas Osei-Wusu

More than two million Ghanaians are living with the Sickle Cell disorder constituting two percent of the national population of 30 million. Additionally, 25 percent of the population are also estimated to be having traces of the sickle cell blood condition.

Records at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi alone show that 8,000 patrons of the facility have their sickle cell status confirmed and are undergoing treatment and management.

The Head of the Paediatric Haematology Oncology of the Hospital, Dr. Vivian Paintsil, disclosed this at a public awareness session with the Methodist Church at Ahodwo in Kumasi, Ashanti Region.

The event coincided with this year’s edition of Father’s Day.

The United Nations, at its Assembly in 2008, set aside June 19 every year to be commemorated by its member states to recognize and appreciate Sickle Cell as disease burden.

Sickle Cell is a disorder of the human cell that inflicts on the concerned individual various health complications which can only be managed.

The World Sickle Cell Day marked on 19th June is an opportunity for UN Member states to create public awareness about the disorder, the cause, socio-economic burden on the carrier, family and larger society among others.

This year’s Sickle Cell Day commemoration in the Ashanti region, jointly organised by the Sickle Cell Association and experts from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital coincided with Father’s Day.

The organisers took advantage of its unique occurrence to join congregants of the Mount Horeb Methodist Church at Ahodwo in Kumasi to advance public education on the disease. The organisers screened interested members of the church for their Sickle Cell status.

The health experts also took the congregants through presentation on nature, cause, symptoms, complications and preventive measures against increasing cases of health problem.

Incidentally, the men who were the main target of the free testing because the occasion coincided with the Father’s Day celebration shied away from knowing their status with less than five of them taking advantage to confirm their status ostensibly out of fear.

The situation also confirmed the worry of the leadership of the Ahodwo Methodist Circuit that an appreciable number of prospective couples reject recommendations to test for the sickle cell condition during pre-marriage counselling on grounds of their Human Rights.

The Superintendent Minister, Very Reverend Charles Sangmoah, urged especially the prospective fathers in the church to check their sickle cell status before marriage to save themselves from the challenges of the medical condition.

Very Reverend Charles Sangmoah.

The National Secretary of the Sickle Cell Association of Ghana, Mr. Joseph Sarfo Antwi, said, unlike previously, medical and research advancements have made it possible for carriers of the disorder to live their full life expectancy.

The Head of Paediatric Haematology Oncology of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Dr. Vivian Paintsil, spoke to GBC News about complications of sickle cell and how to manage it.

As part of the Father’s Day celebration, the Church honoured its 80-year-old Welfare Chairman, Opanin Oppong Boateng with a citation as the Best Father for 2022.

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