By: NyimaSillah
Sickle Cell Association, the Gambia (SCAG) is set to commemorate Sickle Cell Awareness Month starting on the 3rd of September 2022. The commemoration will take the form of a symposium at the American Corner along Kairaba Avenue.
The association was formulated in August 2007 and has signed a lot of Memorandum of Understanding with partners such as MoBSE, GT Bank, MoH, Ministry of Environment, the Red Cross, and Africa Sickle Cell Foundation amongst others.
However, people with sickle cell disease produce unusually shaped red blood cells that can cause problems that they do not live as long as healthy blood cells and can block vessels. The disease is a serious and lifelong health condition, with its possible treatments could help manage many of the symptoms.
Speaking to this medium, the President of the association Mr. Alieu Sambou said that since the inception of SCAG, they have reached out to many people with sickle cell, creating awareness, and providing moral and financial support, particularly when members are in the hospital.
The association has some working partnerships with the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education using schools as SCD reading materials schools. He said they also initiated a working relationship with the Ministry of Environment and climate change to promote green communities.
“As September is Sickle cell awareness month, we are taking the opportunity to raise awareness. This will be the first time since our inception to hold an awareness program at the sickle cell village in Tankularr Keneba Kiang west,” he said.
He expressed gratitude to the main sponsor, GT Bank and all NGOs and Agencies that partnered with them in the previous years, and Novartis who made Hydrox more accessible.
