Janet Ogundepo A sickle cell advocacy group, the Coalition of Sickle Cell NGOs, has called on members of the National Assembly, including the Nigerian Senate and the Federal House of Representatives, to prioritize the enactment of the Sickle Cell Bill for the benefit of people living with the disease and all Nigerians. They made the call in a press release sent to PUNCH Healthwise following the commemoration of World Sickle Cell Day. The United Nations declared Sickle Cell a public health problem and ‘one of the world’s foremost genetic diseases’ at the 63rd session of its General Assembly in December 2008.
It then urged member states and organisations to raise awareness of sickle cell disease on June 19 every year, a practice which has gained traction since 2009. The advocates recalled that the Sickle Cell Bill was debated in the Nigerian Senate in 2021 but has since been abandoned in its transmission to the Federal House of Representatives. The bill as sponsored by Senator Sam Egwu is for an act to provide for the prevention, control and management of sickle cell anemia.
The statement quoted the Founding Executive Director of Sickle Cell Advocacy and Management Initiative and Chairperson of the Coalition of Sickle Cell NGOs in Nigeria, Ms Toyin Adesola as saying that more awareness about sickle cell was needed to ensure people made the right choices. She said, “The idea of the Coalition of Sickle Cell NGOs is so that we will not work in silos. We believe in working .