The President of the Sickle Cell Hope Alive Foundation (SCHAF), Professor Adeyinka Falusi, has called for urgent action to close what she described as the “survival gap” in sickle cell disease care in Nigeria.
Speaking at the 2026 World Sickle Cell Day commemoration, Falusi said Nigeria must move beyond awareness creation to concrete interventions that ensure equity in access to care for persons living with the condition.
She expressed satisfaction with progress made in advocacy but stressed that more must be done to reduce avoidable deaths.
This year’s theme, “Closing the Survival Gap: Equity in Sickle Cell Disease,” she noted, underscores the urgent need for fair and timely access to healthcare services at all levels.
Falusi warned that Nigeria records about 150,000 births annually involving sickle cell traits, adding that many children still die due to late diagnosis and unequal access to treatment.
She called for the introduction of mandatory
This post was originally published on this site.
