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| Some of the recipients of the free self-care tool kit from TonyMay’s Foundation and members of the management of the foundation |
Chioma Umeha
Succour has come the way of 300 people living with
Sickle Cell Disorder in Lagos as they received free self-care tool kit from
TonyMay’s Foundation, a non-profit organisation to protect them against the
crisis associated with the busy Christmas and New Year celebrations.
In his remarks at the presentation ceremony of the
self-care tool kit to beneficiaries recently, at St. Joseph Mission Clinic,
Kirikiri Town, Lagos, Mr. Andrew Otokhina, Chairman Board of Trustees,
TonyMay’s Foundation, said that the goal of the exercise was to make sure that
people with SCD are healthy and crisis free during the festive period.
Otokhina explained; “Our organisation provided self-care
tool kit to 300 people living with Sickle Cell Disorder (SCD). The goal is to
ensure that they are healthy and crisis-free during the Christmas holidays as
well as in the coming year.” He said that the gesture is in line with the
vision of the Foundation which is to have a sickle cell free nation and
advocate for a sickle cell policy in the treatment and management of sickle
disorder in Nigeria.
The Chairman further stressed the need for
increased awareness about the disorder through various campaigns and
implementation of a sickle cell policy through legislation.
He also said that the event is part of the
strategies to engage communities and populace on the need for a collective
effort in the fight against SCD which is endemic in the country.
Government’s support for persons living with
sickle cell is critical to the reduction of the burden of the condition in the
country, he added.
He observed that the foundation was established in
the honour of his two children whom he described as ‘Warriors’ who died from
sickle cell disorder.
On her part, Winifred Otokhina, Legal Coordinator,
said that the foundation was borne out of the urgent need to create awareness
about sickle cell disorder (SCD) and address the lack of proper health
management of the disorder in Nigeria.
She also said that the foundation is addressing
the major factors that are contributing to the number of new recorded cases of
the SCD which is ignorance about disorder and the importance of genotype
especially for people in sub-urban and rural areas.
She said; “We are currently embarking on awareness
campaign in various parts of the country to address high level of ignorance
about the disorder.”
The term sickle SCD describes a group of inherited
red blood cell disorders. People with SCD have abnormal hemoglobin, called
hemoglobin S or sickle hemoglobin in their red blood cells.
Hemoglobin is a protein in red blood cells that
carries oxygen throughout the body.
SCD is the most common inherited blood disorder.
That means it is passed down through families. You are born with SCD. It is not
something you catch or develop later in life.
Not enough oxygen in the cells of your body can
cause a crisis, according to experts. Studies have also shown that shortage of
oxygen during exercise, everyday stress among other factors, cause the shortage
and the red blood cells to sickle.
It is no secret that Nigeria has the world’s
largest population of people with SCD.
About 3.6 million – two per cent of the population
are living with the disease, while over 1,500 babies are born with the
condition every year in the country, according to Sickle Cell Support Society
of Nigeria (SCSSN).
At least 40 million Nigerians representing roughly
25 per cent of the population are currently believed to have the sickle cell
trait or are carriers of the sickle cell gene (AS).
