Latest statistics indicates that 400,000 children born every year worldwide are diagnosed with sickle cell disease, of this figure, 80 percent come Africa.
In view of the gloomy statistics, the Director of Emeritu Comprehensive Sickle Cell Centre, Dr Kweku Ohene- Frimpong, has appealed to the government to provide the institution with resources to start new-born screening as early as possible to help reduce sickle cell by 2016.
He recently made this known at the celebration of the World Sickle Cell Day at Cape Coast dubbed �Empowering Individuals With Sickle Cell To live Life To The Full�.
Dr Ohene-Frimpong, vice president of the association said his consultation with the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in 1993 led to the establishment of a clinic to screen people with sickle cell due to its alarming rate.
He added that the centre was then handed over to the Health Ministry (MoH) to help establish sickle cell clinics in the 10 regions of Ghana to enable more people to check their status.
�Plans have been put in place to consult a company in Ghana to help produce the hydro oxy urea drug, which is used in countries like Brazil, UK, America, among others, for the treatment of sickle cell diseases in the country since it is expensive to import it,� he added.
Dr Ohene-Frimpong appealed to the public to check their status before selecting their partners to avoid bearing children with the disease.
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