Don’t relent in implementing nationwide SCD-screening plans!!
Professor Alex Osei-Akoto, Principal Investigator of the Patient-Centred Sickle Cell Disease Management in sub-Saharan Africa (PACTS) project, has announced plans by the country to screen every newborn for the sickle cell disease (SCD). (See story on back page)
He made the announcement at a media training workshop on SCD held on Monday at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, aimed to discuss ways to tame SCD in sub-Saharan Africa.
It came out that approximately 18,000 out of an estimated 896,000 babies are born with the SCD annually in the country and that the time had come for another step to be part of a national strategy to prevent or control SCD.
The decision to screen all newborns for the SCD comes at the heels of current statistics that only 5.5 per cent of children are screened for SCD in the newborn period, with most cases diagnosed during emergency department visits.
Even though Ghana is considered to have initiated programmes for screening newborns for SCD, such programmes are not yet universal, meaning not all newborns are screened at birth.
In other words, currently Ghana has no national programme for newborn SCD screening although some health facilities, research consortiums and non-governmental organisations provide the service at a fee.
Therefore, the plan to screen every newborn in the country for the SCD means there would be public centres all over the place to do so and this is welcome news because of the benefits.
All families of children born with the condition would have the screening centres on their doorstep and readily get to know how to care for these children.
They also stand the chance of incurring less cost in caring for these children.
The SCD is an inherited blood disorder, which causes abnormal red blood cells to sickle, leading to various complications, including chronic pain, anaemia, infections, and organ damage.
Clearly, it is a condition that makes the life of the child or any other patient uncomfortable and puts families of patients in emotional and financial stress because of the frequent ailments it causes, which come as its appendages.
It is sad to hear that one in every 50 children born in Ghana would have a sickle cell disease with 50 to 90 per cent of them dying before their fifth birthday.
Screening newborns is, therefore, crucial for early detection of the condition and timely interventions in the lives of affected patient to significantly reduce the risk of life-threatening complications and improve survival rate as well as quality of life for them.
Besides, newborn screening is critical as it will help to identify affected population at risk of giving birth to children with SCD, allowing for genetic counselling and planning for future pregnancies, or even avoiding them completely.
Despite the condition being highly-preventable public health risk, Ghana is still struggling to have a nationwide newborn screening, over 30 years after the initiative was piloted as a research study in some districts in the Ashanti and Greater Accra regions, putting a significant number of children at risk.
Early diagnosis of sickle cell disease (SCD) through newborn screening is a cost-effective intervention, which reduces morbidity and mortality, hence the time has really come to immediately implement a nationwide SCD screening.
This would be in sync with the five-year National Strategy for SCD (2022-2028) the country launched in November last year, to prevent the disease and control its burden through comprehensive and co-ordinated healthcare services, including newborn screening, research and public awareness.
It is also to reduce stigma and discrimination associated with the condition.
Hopefully the plans to screen newborns for SCD would be implemented for all its benefits.