MoH unveils strategic policy to combat sickle cell disease

The Ministry of Health has formulated a comprehensive strategy to address policy interventions aimed at reducing the burden of sickle cell disease and lower its prevalence.

According to acting head of the division of noncommunicable diseases at the Ministry of Health Dr Gladwell Gathecha, they have developed a policy through the strategy aimed at providing guidelines for health workers to guarantee uniform and standard practice in the management of the disease.

Dr Gathecha said this will ensure the treatment patients receive at the Coast is the same offered in the Western part of the country.

This comes as concerns are raised over the rising number of sickle cell cases with 14,000 children in the country born annually with the disease.

Currently, counties surrounding Lake Victoria and the coastal region bear the highest burden of the disease, with 50–90 per cent of children diagnosed with the disease dying before their 5th birthday.

Dr Gathecha said they have also developed a policy on infant screening that will ensure the condition is detected early with proper treatment and nutrition initiated.

"The ministry has also established a National Pathological Disorders Technical Working Group to enhance multi-sectoral coordination in managing the disease," she disclosed.

Dr Gathecha was speaking during the Sickle Cell Disease and Hemophilia conference in Kisumu.

Dr Gathecha further stated that the ministry had also planned a nationalwide sensitisation campaign to create awareness about SCD.

This, she said, includes demystify myths that have for a long time subjected patients to stigma.

The Sickle Cell Disease and Hemophilia conference in Kisumu, the first of its kind in Kenya and the region and which attracted over 50 abstracts from participants in Kenya and around the world.

She noted that the forum was critical for knowledge sharing and the advancement of research, adding that the recommendations from the conference will help the ministry address policy issues in the management of the two diseases.

According to the Kisumu County Executive Member for Health Dr Gregory Ganda, the conference was critical in forging a common front in the fight against the disease.

Ganda emphasised on testing saying it was critical to ensuring that all newborns know their sickle cell status to inform the decision to put them on medication.

Sickle Cell Federation of Kenya (SCFK) chairperson Dr Fredrick Okinyi called on the government to allocate funds for the procurement of rapid testing kits to scale up screening for the disease.

Dr Okinyi said focus should be on schools so that all children across the country know their status and those found with the disease put on treatment.

The National Blood Ambassador, Caroline Wangamati, noted that blood was essential in the management of SCD and haemophilia, decrying the poor state of blood banks across the country.

She called for the scaling up of advocacy and awareness to rally Kenyans to donate blood.