Ignorance, misconceptions increasing incidence of sickle cell disease – Expert

Ignorance, misconceptions increasing incidence of sickle cell disease – Expert
By Desmond Amanyi
Sickle Cell
Abuja, Sept. 26, 2018 (NAN) Dr Chioma Ofoekii, a medical practitioner based in Abuja, has identified ignorance and misconceptions as causes for increasing incidence of sickle cell in the country.
Ofoekii made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
“The number of patients with sickle cell diseases soars yearly and this is more in rural areas hence increasing death rates, especially children.
“People indulge in marriages with the wrong blood genotype combinations without being aware of the dangers it poses to their offspring.
“Main reason why we seem to have so many children with the SS genotype (sicklers) is largely due to ignorance on the part of the parents.
“If we had a choice to give birth, we wouldn’t want to give birth to children with the SS blood genotype and put them through the kind of suffering they go through.
“So if we can curb the level of ignorance through education that will go a long way to reduce the incidence and prevalence of sickle cell disease in our society,’’ Ofoekii said.
She emphasised the need for government at all levels to increase health awareness campaigns in order to educate people on the dangers of the disease.
According to her, this will go a long way in creating the needed awareness as well as inform students about the illness.
Ofoekii, however, expressed concern about the content of messages being taught in schools, noting that there are misconceptions.
“The teaching that if you have four children one will be a sickler, one will have the AA genotype and the remaining two will have the AS genotype is wrong.
“This is wrong because they do not teach the children that it is a probability chart for each pregnancy.
“What this means is that at each point in time when you are pregnant, any of the three genotypes can manifest in the child.
“So that means that it is possible for an AS couple to give birth to three children with either AA or AS.
“Another couple may not be that fortunate. They might end up giving birth to only sicklers.
“So it is not enough to say that we are educating our kids in schools but we should also look at the content of the education.
“People are often taught that out of four children only one will be a sickler that is the wrong teaching.
“Some people have banked on it to say we will now have only three children since the last one will be a sickler.
“If they understand that for each pregnancy, there is a risk of having a sickler, then they will understand that the risk is not worth taking’’ she said.
Ofoekii stressed the need for marriage institutions to include teachings about sickle cell as part of their programmes.
“This will help create more awareness to intending couples on the need to check their blood genotypes before proceeding to marriage.

“The churches, the mosques, the courts where people can register and get married. Some of these institutions have marriage classes for intending couples.
“It will be beneficial to include a course on blood genotype, the risks and all that it entails to these intending couples so that they know well ahead of time.
“It should also be made compulsory to have people run test to determine their blood genotypes before they enter into marriage.
“If it becomes mandatory, they will be forced to do it because some people claim ignorance saying that they were not told in their churches and so on.
“For those institutions of marriage that have adopted it, it is very commendable.
“And aside the practice of teaching about genotype, what is more important is teaching the right thing so we do not mislead people with the information that we give,’’ the medical expert emphasised. (NAN)
DA/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola