Post Image
With their website reading: “There is nothing more worthy than a community banding together and advocating for their own cause”, the exact idea for today’s Sickle Cell Day “Cell-a-bration” is clearly communicated by the World Sickle Cell Federation. World Sickle Cell Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2008 in order to increase the awareness about the sickle cell disease and its cure among the common public. It was celebrated first time on 19th of June in 2009. Explaining how June 19th became the official date for raising awareness about the disease that has been rated the most frequent genetic disease worldwide, the Federation further stated: “Through advocacy of the Sickle Cell Disease International Organisation (SCDIO), the support of the Republic of Congo and the Republic of Senegal, and the commitment in the scientific world, the African Union (in 2005), the UNESCO (2005), WHO (2006), and the United Nations (2008) recognized sickle cell disease as a public health priority. The 19 of June, has been chosen to celebrate every year the World Sickle Cell Day in order to raise awareness of the disease in the world.”
Coalition of Sickle Cell NGOS take a Charity Walk tagged ‘Red Umbrella’.
What is Sickle Cell Anemia? According to Google, sickle cell anemia is a severe hereditary form of anemia in which a mutated form of hemoglobin distorts the red blood cells into a crescent shape at low oxygen levels. Individuals have been encouraged to mark the day by wearing red shirts/clothes recognizing that proper management of sickle-cell anemia will contribute to an appreciable decrease in mortality from sicknesses like malaria and the risk of fatal infections like HIV.
You might also like:
This article was first published on 18th June 2018

henry

Also known as 'Glofame', Henry is a prolific Writer, fine lyricist and an audacious independent Spoken Word poet who loves God, appreciates music and enjoys other forms of performance art.

Comments (1876)

1,876 thoughts on “The World Celebrates World Sickle Cell Day”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *