By Felix Khanoba
The Acting Vice Chancellor of the University of Abuja (UniAbuja), Prof. Patricia Lar, has stressed the importance of embracing precautionary measures in the fight against Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), calling for greater awareness and action to mitigate its impact on affected populations.
Prof. Lar made this call during a public lecture titled “The Evolving Therapeutic Landscape in Sickle Cell Disease”, organised by the Centre of Excellence for Sickle Cell Disease Research and Training (CESRTA) in collaboration with the University of Abuja’s College of Health Sciences on Tuesday.
Represented by the Provost of the College, Prof. Titus Ibekwe, the Acting VC praised the lecture delivered by Maureen Okam Achebe – an Associate Professor of Medicine and Global Health Equity at Harvard Medical School and Clinical Director of Hematology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, for its insight and relevance.
“She took us through the ABCD on how to care for this disease, including the latest in advances which includes gene therapy, which is effort towards modifying their genes so that it will start functioning like normal HBA genes rather than sickle cell genes,” the acting VC said.
“She also told us about bone marrow transplantation, which we know has been in existence for a while, and effort being made to ensure that this becomes something that is done on a daily basis within and around here. And also the hormone treatments and measures for those who are already living with this disease is expected to have better quality of life.”
Prof. Lar further stressed the need for preventive strategies, especially in partner selection to avoid genetic compatibility that could lead to the birth of children with the disease.
“So in people selecting life partners to ensure that an AS should not get married to an AS, or an AS getting married to an SS, or an SS getting married to an SS. When you do this, that means that you are increasing the chances of giving birth to children who have sickle cell anemia,” he added.
She emphasized that if such preventive measures are adopted, “we’ll be able to eliminate sickle cell anemia to the barest minimum within and around our country, and in fact throughout the surface of the Earth.”
In her lecture, Achebe stated that Nigeria bears the highest burden of sickle cell cases globally.
“Like we said, over 300,000 babies are born with sickle cell disease in Sub-Saharan Africa (annually) and the under five mortality of patients with sickle cell disease is enormous. So those facts alone make it a public health problem for us,” she said, noting that Nigeria accounts for about 150,000 of these births.
Achebe also warned of the mounting economic toll of the disease in the region.
“The Economist Intelligence Unit looked at the cost of sickle cell disease for Sub-Saharan Africa as countries are the continent and the total cost in Sub-Saharan Africa of sickle cell disease is 9.1 billion US dollars per year.
“It is expected to rise to 10.2 billion US dollars by 2030. This is due to direct costs, so hospitalization for patients, but that’s really only a third of the cost. Two-thirds of the cost is due to a loss of productivity, some from premature mortality, from morbidity, from loss of family income, both for the patient and for the family,” she explained.
Achebe noted that effectively addressing the disease could help the continent recover an estimated $6.5 billion in annual productivity losses, money she described as “sorely needed on the continent.”
She emphasized the need for political and financial will to curb the disease’s impact, advocating for early diagnosis and comprehensive care.
“Key priority must be funding and provision of nationwide newborn screening. And then the provision of comprehensive care. And in sickle cell disease, we know what works and it’s not that expensive.
“So to prevent, I know that that is relative, but I’m saying relative to other diseases. So the provision of early penicillin, folic acid, hydroxyurea, antimalaria, these are the kinds of things that made a significant difference in the mortality of patients in the United States,” she said.
Also speaking at the event, Director of CESRTA, Prof. Obiageli Nnodu, who expressed delight that the Centre was recently scaled up to the National Centre of Excellence for Sickle Cell Disease Research and Training to coordinate research in the country, said the lecture was part of a broader effort to enhance public understanding and treatment options for the disease.
“So this public lecture, is our desire to bring a wealth of information on treatment for sickle cell disease to the general public, especially our young medical students and the university community. And we are really honoured to have a partner, Professor Maureen Achebe from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Boston to come and deliver this wonderful lecture. So we are really delighted because over the years this is part of the work we do at CESRTA…..
“Like she said in her lecture, there are things we can do right now, ranging from newborn screening and early interventions, following newborn screening, penicillin prophylaxis, educating the patients, hydroxyurea treatment that can help to modify the disease in patients right now, while planning for transformative treatment like bone marrow transplantation and gene therapy.
“So this is really important for us within the university community and for the general public,” Nnodu, who is a Professor of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, said.
