KENYA – Kenya’s Ministry of Health has partnered with County governments, private and public sector stakeholders and Sickle Cell warriors to advocate for early Sickle cell disease (SCD) screening, diagnosis and appropriate medical intervention for infants.
The Ministry of Health has also established a National Multisectoral and Multi-Stakeholder Technical Working Group dedicated to address three key thematic areas of Kenya’s sickle cell disease response namely Advocacy, Screening, Diagnosis, Care and Treatment and Data, surveillance and research.
According to the Department of Non-Communicable Diseases, newborn screening for Sickle cell disease and enrollment into comprehensive care programs can prevent up to 70 per cent of the deaths of 14,000 infants born with the sickle cell disease in Kenya.
Sickle cell disease is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders. Management of SCD is focused on preventing and treating pain episodes and other complications including medical screening and intervention programmes.
The United Nations General Assembly established the World Sickle Cell Day in 2008 in order to increase awareness about Sickle Cell Disease. This day is commemorated on June 19th each year. This year’s World Sickle Cell Day theme of “Screen and care for Sickle Cell Disease”
Subsequently, Kenya has entered into a strategic partnership deal to ensure early identification of sickle cell diseases so that patients can be linked to care which remains top priority in lessening the burden of persons living with sickle cell and that of their families and loved ones.
The Ministry of Health is implementing health system reforms to accelerate sickle cell interventions in the country including raising awareness, prevention, control and management of sickle cell disease in an effort to improve child survival.
The Ministry of Health Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Dr. Rashid Aman stressed that infant screening and linkage to care is one of the policies the government is focusing on launching in phases to address data, surveillance and research in regards to sickle cell disease awareness.
Dr. Rashid Aman advised County governments to invest more in procuring sufficient medications, supplies, equipment and technologies for screening, diagnosis and management of sickle cell disease while acknowledging efforts put forward by the County governments to improve health service delivery.
Dr. Aman stated revealed that the Ministry of Health is in talks with the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) to ensure that the much-needed services of screening, diagnosis, monitoring and care are available and affordable for sickle cell warriors.
“The government is committed to achieving Universal Healthcare Coverage (UHC) which is part of the vision 2030, it covers sickle cell disease and other non-communicable diseases that suffer the most in terms of out of pocket payments to access care over the life long course of the diseases,” he assured.
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