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.... ....   Home  |  Cover Stories  |  National Newsreel  |  Politics  |  Business  |  Sports  |  World  | Contact  | Advert Rates  Towards a better life for the people Search The Archives   Cover Stories National News South West Niger Delta South East North Politics Business Sports World Viewpoints Features   First  Lady urges campaign against sickle cell disease By Nduka Uzuakpundu and Chioma Obinna Friday, August 13, 2004 LAGOS—FIRST Lady, Mrs Stella Obasanjo has called for concerted efforts towards ensuring a solid front in the campaign against sickle cell disease. Speaking on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the Temitayo Awosika Help Foundation (TAHF), which took place yesterday at the Muson Centre, Lagos, she said that such a front is equally necessary as a source of steady humanitarian service to the needy. Therefore, she said she would like to see “the private sector, eminent Nigerians, philanthropists, international organisations, amongst others, provide funds, on a continuous basis, to empower the Board and Management of TAHF to implement their programmes within the next two years.” Statistics gathered in the field of haematology, she disclosed, showed that about 25 percent of the entire population of  Nigeria or one in every four carries the sickle cell trait, of which there is 0.25 percent mortality rate. Professor Wuraola Sokunbi of the University of Ibadan, in her paper titled “Sickle Cell, The Nigerian Experience,” noted that the lean economic times in the country had hampered the care of sickle cell disease patients. In her words: “Many of these patients have sought care outside specialised centres. The Average patient with clinically severe disease may need up to =N=100,000.00 annually, to cover his or her medical bills . . . and the average Nigerian family with a sickle cell patient, exclusively bears the burden of care, because there is no national social welfare package for their treatment.” She stressed the need for government and philanthropists in the country to come to the aid of the patients as studies had revealed that relatives of patients see themselves, under financial burden, disruption of  family routine and psychological distress, as being in the same bracket as relatives of cancer patients.   Home  |  Cover Stories  |  National Newsreel  |  Politics  |  Business  |  Sports  |  World  | Contact  | Advert Rates © 1998- 2004. Vanguard Media Ltd.

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