HOPE urges more screening for sickle cell

With Sunday celebrated as World Sickle Cell Awareness Day there is a renewed call coming for more Barbadians to be screened against the illness.

Director of the HOPE Foundation with responsibility for Sickle Cell Disease Elizabeth Franklin made that call on the sidelines of a mix and mingle in celebration of the day at the Drill Hall Beach on Sunday afternoon.

“We would like more people, especially young people, to know the possibility of having sickle cell disease.

If they are screened by having the sickle cell disease test done then they are aware that if two persons have the gene then they are aware there is a 75 percent chance they can have it,” she told Barbados TODAY.

Franklin added that she thinks that the numbers are low for those who should be screened due to fear.

“I think because it is a blood disease a lot of people think there’s a stigma and they are afraid of knowing and there is not that awareness.

This is although we try to let them know there is no stigma with sickle cell disease. It is just a condition that people have but if you are aware you can take better care.”

Franklin called on everyone to find time to become knowledgeable about the illness.

Meanwhile president of the HOPE Foundation Shelley Weir urged once again for newborns to be screened for the condition.

“This is the main call that we are making – that every new born baby in Barbados be screened for sickle cell. We are one of the few places in the Caribbean that don’t do it,” she said. (MR)