The Consortium on Newborn Screening in Africa (CONSA) has launched sites in Abuja and Kaduna to screen 16, 000 babies in the country for sickle cell disease every year.
Prof Obiageli Nnodu, Nigerian National Coordinator of CONSA, and Director Centre of Excellence for Sickle Cell Disease Research and Training, University of Abuja, stated this on Tuesday during the launch of the CONSA sites by the University of Abuja and the Sickle Cell Support Society of Nigeria in Abuja.
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Sickle Cell disease is a genetic blood disorder that affect a person’s red blood cells and passed on from parents.
The disorder causes normal round and flexible blood cells to become stiff and sickle shaped, which in turn stops the blood cells and the oxygen they carry from moving freely around the body.
Prof Nnodu said an estimated 150, 000 babies in Nigeria were born with Sickle Cell disease but many of them do not live past the age of five because of lack of access to diagnostic testing and comprehensive care.
She said that in Nigeria, newborns would be screened at different sites in Abuja and Kaduna, and that mothers would be offered screening as they deliver in designated hospitals or bring their children to the clinics for the first vaccines.
“We are excited to be the first country in CONSA to launch sites to demonstrate how newborn screening as an important public health intervention can save lives of babies born with sickle cell disease in Nigeria.
“We are happy that despite delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we will be able to increase the number of newborns screened, and to promote care for all persons living with sickle cell disease in partnership with the Federal Capital Territory Health Authority,” she said.
Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said the burden of sickle cell disease in the country was further worsened by transfusion hepatitis B, hepatic C, and HIV/AIDS.
The Vice chancellor of the University of Abuja, who was represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor Academics, Clement Alawa, said the university was willing to provide necessary support for the success of the initiative.
The CONSA intervention against Sickle Cell disease is also implemented in Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
