From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna
In a bid to fight Sickle Cell Anemia pandemic in Kaduna state, the Sickle Cell Patient Health Promotion Centre (SCPHPC), Kaduna has called on students to ensure they go for genotype test in order to identify their genotype.
The group stated this during an enlightenment and sensitization campaign to Dariq International School, Malali in Kaduna North Local Government Area of the state, yesterday.
Leader of the Team, Hajiya Safiya Suleiman said sickle cell anemia is pandemic that is sending about 250,000 Nigeria youths to their early graves and the only way to avoid this, is to stop producing sicklers by ensuring that one marries the person whose genotype matches his or her own.
Similarly, Head of the Nurses of SCPHPC, Hajiya Maryam Natiti said the Creator has ensured that every child carries one gene from the father and the mother, this genes are AA, AS and SS.
“If a parent is AA he can marry somebody with AS and their children will all be AA or AS because one will pick from the mother A and from the father S, while the other can pick A from the father and A from mother which is excellent.
In the case both parents are AS, this is dangerous because all the children may end up picking S from father and S from mother making them sicklers. The family can also be fortunate that all the children pick A from father and A from mother making them normal. The children can also pick A from mother and S from father making them carrier.
Speaking in the same vein, the Pharmacist of the Centre, Aisha Ishyaku Tukur, said there is no drug presently that can cure sickle cell anemia, but there are routine drugs used in managing them, such as Paludrine and Folic Acid which are Prophylatis of malaria. She however, advised all the students to buy their drugs from registered pharmacy.
In his remarks, the Principal of Dariq International School, Mr. Mohammed Auwal Yakubu thanked SCPHPC for the enlightenment; saying both staff and students have learnt a lot about sickle cell anemia and promised that the school will maintain relationship with the Centre.
