Uganda’s Ministry of Health has announced that about 9,000 children born with sickle cell disease die every year in Uganda.
The Ministry stated in a report released at the weekend that Uganda ranks 5th in the world with the highest number of people living with sickle cell disease.
This burden, according to the Ministry of Health, is due to an increase in the prevalence of the sickle cell gene amongst the population.
The Director-General of Health Services at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Charles Olaro, explained that the lifelong condition is a huge liability to the country as 20,000 newborns in Uganda are estimated to be born each year with the sickle cell disease and that about 6,000 to 9,000 of them die before their 5th birthday.
Olaro called on all public health facilities to prioritize sickle cell care in their budgets and operational plans to improve survival rates and the quality of life for the affected patients.
According to the director, the disease contributes to about 16 per cent of the under-5-birth mortality in the country.
The report revealed that 13 of every 100 Ugandans have the sickle cell gene, which the experts now say has spread across the country with a higher prevalence in Eastern and Northern Uganda.
The number is about 20 out of 100 and that the high-burden regions are the Acholi and Lango sub-regions, the Central region and Southwest Uganda.
The Ministry of Health is now rolling out newborn testing and encouraging prenatal testing for people intending to have children.
“Before anyone gets a child, they should know their partner’s status with regard to the traits, so that the carriers don’t marry fellow carriers and that’s the ultimate way in which we can fight this disease and eradicate it,” Olaro said.
MG/GIK/APA