About 75% of people living with sickle cell disease (SCD) are in sub-Saharan Africa. In Ghana alone, about one child in 50 is born with SCD and, without early detection and intervention, 50% to 90% with this rare disease will die before age five. Despite the launch of a national newborn screening policy, implementation is not widespread. Pfizer is supporting the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra to help bring newborn screening for SCD to the capital of Ghana. This effort has resulted in the training of 100 nurses and screening of more than 10,000 newborns, as well as clinical guidelines for a newborn SCD clinic at Korle Bu. We are also engaging key members of the community to help the screening program serve as a model for other hospitals across the sub-Saharan Africa region.
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