Sickle Cell Disease

Sickle cell disease affects one in fifty births in Ghana. This means that about 14,000 babies are born each year with sickle cell disease in Ghana. Of the record number of 2,400 babies born on New Year’s day in 2018 in Ghana; 48 would have been born with sickle cell disease without their parents knowing about it because we don’t have a national program for screening for the disease.

Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disorder caused by a mutation in haemoglobin; the red coloured protein inside our red blood cells. The sickle haemoglobin causes red blood cells to change their normal shape into banana-like shapes, which are unstable resulting in the cells breaking up easily, and blocking the blood vessels.

WAGMC Sickle Cell Disease Projects

Some Common Symptoms

Myths about sickle cell disease