Busia county is partnering with the International Cancer Institute to set up a pilot sickle cell disease registry in the country and special clinics and screening services in the border town.
s in Busia, Bungoma, Trans Nzoia, Kakamega and Vihiga Counties.
A researcher from the institute Emmah Achieng on Wednesday said sickle cell is endemic in the region and action was needed to deal with the disease.
She said the success of the pilot programmed will provide a framework for sickle cell policy development.
Other registries will later be set up in Bungoma, Vihiga, Kakamega and Trans Nzoia counties.
Achieng said the registry to be set up in the next six months will be the first step in undertaking the burden of sickle cell in public and private health facilities. It will provide baseline data for any other relevant studies.
“The programme will encourage all sicklers to come out for registration so that the county can have the exact numbers,” Achieng said.
She was speaking at the Busia County Referral Hospital when the ICI team met the county health management team. She said ICI director Professor Chite Asirwa was keen to support the sickle registry and control programme.
Busia county director of medical services Janerose Ambuchi said it was a privilege to be the first recipient of the programme. She said free interaction with those from neighbouring Uganda had made many people vulnerable.
Professor Bernard Sorre from ICI and lecturer at Moi University said they want to manage the transfer of the sickle cell gene and have a generation that is free from the disease.
Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) or sickle cell anaemia is a genetic or hereditary blood disorder characterised by red blood cells that assume an abnormal, rigid sickle cell shape (sickling) in conditions of low oxygen like dehydration, acidosis and infection among others.
Any person carrying the sickle cell gene can transmit it to his or her offspring. Two categories of such persons exist- those who have inherited the gene from one parent, are referred to as sickle cell carriers and those who have inherited from both parents are referred to as having sickle cell anaemia (sickler).
Three-quarters of sickle cell disease cases occur in Africa. It affects up to three per cent of births and it’s estimated that between six and nine million infants are born with sickle cell disease across the continent.
edited by peter obuya
