WORLD WIDE AFRICA THE VOICE OF THE PAN AFRICAN MOVEMENT

The Sickle-Cell Anemia Research Foundation has raised the consciousness ofthe community, first by giving it the basic facts about the disease, and second by bringing to its attention the neglect of the disease in medical research. The community has learned through the foundation 's program that the people  themselves can organize and find solutions to the problems that daily affect their survival. HUEY P. NEWTON The 63rd session of the UN General Assembly in December 2008 adopted a resolution on the “recognition of sickle-cell anaemia as a public health problem,” and urged Member States and UN organizations to raise awareness of SCD on June 19 of each year.21 Despite the fact that the UN has called for global efforts “to bring the disease out of the shadows,” relatively little attention has been given to assessing the burden of SCD and how to reduce it in Africa, where about 85% of children with SCD are born.22 In 2010, the WHO Regional Office for Africa proposed a SCD strategy in official recognition of the fact that this disease is an important cause of child mortality in many African countries.23 Enough is already known to justify investment in public health SCD programs, such as those already in place for other conditions (e.g., HIV or malaria), for promoting widespread screening, health education, and treatment to prevent or manage SCD complications.