UNGA81: Nigeria calls for global action against sickle cell disease

Health

NEW YORK, United States (NPA) — Nigeria has called on multilateral institutions, development partners, philanthropies, researchers and the private sector to align efforts towards tackling sickle cell disease (SCD) globally.

Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako, made the call at the inauguration of OneSCD on the sidelines of the ongoing 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.

OneSCD is a global partnership aimed at advancing equity and transforming SCD care.

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Salako urged stakeholders to invest in country-owned systems and help move proven SCD interventions from pilot programmes to national scale.

He said the call was important because the global response to SCD continued to suffer from severe inequities, structural bottlenecks, fragmentation and a historical lack of prioritisation.

According to him, almost eight million people live with SCD globally, with more than 75 per cent of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

Salako said Nigeria carries the highest burden of the disease globally, with approximately 150,000 to 180,000 Nigerian babies born with the condition annually.

He said the worrisome number had made SCD a national priority for Nigeria, embedded in its child survival, maternal health, primary healthcare, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and universal health coverage (UHC) agendas.

“This is why OneSCD matters; to provide a global mechanism that connects political leadership, technical expertise, lived experience and financing behind country-led action,” the minister said.

Salako said Nigeria, as a champion country, would continue to integrate early diagnosis and comprehensive care across primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

He said the country would also strengthen national accountability through better data, measurable targets and sustainable financing.

The minister said Nigeria would ensure that people living with SCD and their families remained at the centre of policy, programme design and evaluation.

He added that Nigeria would share implementation lessons and advocate for SCD across global child health, NCDs, maternal health and UHC agendas.

Salako said Nigeria was already strengthening its national response through a programme anchored in the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, a National Sickle Cell Disease Steering Committee and National Guidance for Control and Clinical Management.

He said pilot programmes in Lagos, Kano and the Federal Capital Territory were testing scalable newborn screening approaches through maternity, immunisation, paediatric and primary healthcare services.

The minister said six centres of excellence had also been established and equipped with high-performance liquid chromatography machines for specialised diagnosis.

He said Nigeria was improving access to affordable diagnostics and medicines, strengthening supply chains, training health workers and establishing referral networks.

Salako said the country was also integrating SCD indicators into national health information systems and pursuing sustainable financing through health insurance, domestic resources and responsible public-private partnerships.

He said the aim was to ensure that families did not bear the cost of care alone.

“The launch of OneSCD is moving SCD from a neglected disease to the front burner.

“It must be more than a ceremonial moment as we double up to move from talk attention to on-ground implementation attention,” Salako said.

He said the inauguration should result in coordinated action, mutual accountability and measurable progress, so that a child’s place of birth would no longer determine whether he or she survived and thrived with SCD.

Salako said Nigeria was ready to contribute, learn and partner in advancing the OneSCD partnership.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that OneSCD was inaugurated by Nigeria, Uganda, India, Jamaica and St Kitts and Nevis.

It was inaugurated alongside UNICEF, the World Health Organisation, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, St Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the World Coalition on SCD.

(NAN)