OBJECTIVE: TO ENSURE A REDUCTION IN THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN BORN WITH SICKLE CELL IN UGANDA.
Sickle cell has been one of the serious diseases but with less attention in the country. Therefore the biggest numbers of people both in urban and rural areas have little or no knowledge about it. They don’t know how it’s acquired which has led to its multiplication. Sickle cell screening wasn’t known to the biggest population.
Under this initiative we move to communities and educate people about sickle cell disease, its health effects, management and care. We go an extra mile to provide brochures having sickle cell information whenever we educate people. In schools and tertiary institutions we are establishing Sickle Cell Clubs then support groups in communities as a means of disseminating sickle cell information, fighting stigma and offer psychosocial support.
Continuous Medical Education (CME) is carried out in hospitals such that the nurses and doctors are equipped with latest sickle cell information.
Some sickle cell Organizations joined hands and wrote a document to the Ministry of Health requesting to ring fence sickle cell drugs so that all nurses and doctors in different health facilities get informed such that when sickle cell patients get to them, they know exactly what to administer basing on the condition presented to them.
In some hospitals there are sickle cell clinics and specific clinicians who have enough sickle cell information and skills enabling them to reach out to the patients with proper treatment. More to this we are advocating for sickle cell clinics in those facilities that don’t have and having the existing ones well equipped such that the patients get the best treat wherever they go.
Since these people living with sickle cell are entitled to having same rights like the rest, we involve them in our activities whenever they are available and we encourage the society to do the same.
Couples come to our office for screening before getting married. Patients and caregivers come for more sickle cell information and psychosocial support which helps them live healthier.
