Experts urge FG to prioritise tackling cancer, sickle cell disease

International and local health experts on Wednesday enjoined Nigeria to prioritise tackling the burden of cancer and sickle cell disease in the country. 

They made the call in Abuja during the second annual scientific symposium, organised by the International Research Center of Excellence (IRCE) of the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN). 

Dean of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Dr. Mark Gladwin, said with the success of Nigeria in health outcomes for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria, it should now tackle challenges such as cancer, sickle cell and cardiovascular diseases. 

He said, “So, I think we have to start to look at non-communicable diseases, like cancer, cardiovascular diseases, sickle cell disease and how we can leverage our success over the last 20 years into the future to address other challenges.” 

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Gladwin who is also the Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Maryland Baltimore, United States of America said Nigeria has the most babies born with sickle cell disease in the world, adding that among those babies, the mortality rate and risk of stroke is very high. 

He said almost 5% to 6% of those babies suffer from stroke, adding “Sickle cell disease is a very important health problem, but is often put at a lower priority beneath HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, obviously, because Africa faces many infectious health challenges, but I think it’s very important that we think more about sickle cell disease and what we can do to help people suffering from the disease.”