Sickle cell disease(SCD) is a worldwide hemoglobinopathy that concerns about 250000 affected children everv year.The majority of them are living in tropical regions,particularly in sub-Saharan Africa,India and Middle East.Life expectancy and quality of life of SCD patients have improved since the newborn screening and early management have been introduced in USA and Jamaica.Experts of hemoglobinopathies strongly encouraged WHO to develop in the endemic areas networks based on the Thalassaemia International Federation(TIF) model in order to conduct activities for developing medical services for care and prevention of hemoglobin disorders. Despite the inherent practical,political and economic difficulties,early diagnosis and a comprehensive health care program for SCD could be implemented in most of the African countries where the prevalence is high;but many challenges have to be first resolved.Based on pilot studies conducted in some central African countries,this article proposed some strategies and discusses the different ways of implementing initiatives that are indispensable for decreasing the mortality and morbidity rate of SCD in Central Africa.
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