The Problem
The overwhelming majority of People Living with Sickle Cell Disease in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to comprehensive, timely, quality and affordable diagnosis, clinical management and patient care.
Globally, each year over 515,000 children are born with SCD and over 70% of these births occur in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Here the under-five childhood mortality is highest up to 90% and patients lose up to 50 years of healthy life.
In Kenya, 14,000 children are born with SCD annually.
Most countries lack the resources to prioritise comprehensive sickle cell care despite availability of proven interventions. The lack of data on disease burden, fragmented early diagnosis and linkage to care, varied access to affordable essential medicines, lack of comprehensive clinical services, limited availability to SCD therapies, poor healthcare provider capacity are some of the challenges in the SCD response in SSA.
In addition to preventable lifelong complications and disability, people living with sickle cell experience stigma, disrupted education and employment and catastrophic out-of-pocket expenditure to access care. This contributes to poverty, negative mental health and reduced opportunities to thrive for People Living with SCD (PLSCD).
